


The Joy of Pranking in the Midst of War

by Un1te_Cosm0s



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 34
Words: 55,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Un1te_Cosm0s/pseuds/Un1te_Cosm0s
Summary: Sirius Black is a member of the infamous marauders. While at school Sirius spends his time recovering from summers by pranking and forging an unforgettable bond with his fellow marauders. As the world grows darker and they grow older things get worse for all of them. Sirius is faced with the unspeakable at home and he simply refuses to talk about it, Remus is plagued with an unspeakable disease that wreaks havoc every full moon, Peter is faced with the unspeakable as well on occasion at home and at school, James is stuck attempting to smooth the rough edges of their troubles while being continually rejected by the love of his life Lily Evans which breaks him a bit too. They eventually all come together in different ways and help each other out throughout their time at Hogwarts creating an unfailing bond that is only broken by death itself.





	1. Chapter one: day one

"Are you sure this is a good idea" 

"Nope" He said "Quite the opposite actually, I'm positive that this is a horrible idea."

"Oh, boy, here we go"


	2. Chapter one: Day One

"Now you better know Son, any house aside from Slytherin is unacceptable. If I find out you are sorted into any other house you will never be a part of this family again." Sirius' mother said for what must have been the millionth time that day alone.

"Don't worry mum, I'm a Black through and through, there's no other house I could possibly be in." Sirius said confidently, and at that she looked slightly relieved.

"Good Son, and make us proud" his father said giving him a hard slap on the back, then his mother hugged him stiffly and kissed his cheek.

Sirius turned to his little brother and said "see ya later regulator" jokingly to which Regulus replied "in a while siridile" and the boys grinned at each other. With that Sirius walked off dragging his trunk behind him with is owl perching in it's cage in the other hand.

He boarded the train and found a compartment with a few other boys in the middle of the train. After putting his luggage up he looked out the window and just as he found his family the engine started, and he waved goodbye like all the other boys did until they were out of sight.

The first hour of the train ride was pretty boring for Sirius. The boys he had sat with were all fourth year Hufflepuffs, and although they were kind he just felt left out. They weren't his type of people, and his family certainly wouldn't have approved anyway he thought to himself.

Sirius left the compartment as quietly as possible, not that he needed to sneak away he knew he wouldn't be missed and wandered towards the back of the train pointlessly not exactly sure where he was headed. That was until he was startled out of his thoughts by a loud BANG, soon followed by a horrible smell, and then accusatory voices shouting things like "hey you" and "get back here kid!".

Before Sirius could react someone had grabbed his arm and started dragging him with them at full speed. Sirius of course ran with whoever it was, as any sane person would've done when there was a stench behind them.

From the back all he could tell about whoever had grabbed him was that it was a black haired thin boy around his age, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was the adrenaline rushing through him as he ran, and although he hadn't actually done anything Sirius still felt the euphoria of an adrenaline rush.

He could hear the other boy's laughter and joined in, despite having no idea what the boy had done, but it was obviously against the rules and the defiant part of Sirius liked that. He wanted to do this again. Finally they reached the back of the train, and since the two were out of places to go they dove into the last compartment. The two slid down next to each other against the door breathing heavily through their laughter.

"What did you *huff* do to them?" Sirius asked the mystery boy still catching his breath.

"Dung bomb" he said grinning proudly.

"Nice, dude" Sirius replied, having heard about dung bombs, but never actually seen one used in real life before.

"The name is James" mystery boy said sticking out his hand for a shake.

"and mine's Sirius" Sirius said grabbing James' and giving it an enthusiastic shake.

Looking back on this moment Sirius would later wonder why he hadn't said his last name. It certainly wasn't for fear of judgement, perhaps he was simply following James' lead who hadn't said his either, or perhaps he had simply forgotten. Whatever the reason he was glad he hadn't.

It was then that the two noticed that the compartment they had dove into wasn't empty, but housed two other boys. One was a short, slightly pudgy, blond boy who had a young jovial expression seemingly permanently planted on his face.

Sirius couldn't see much of the second boy seeing as the bottom half of his face was hidden behind a book. From what he could see he was a very thin boy with mildly tanned skin that was loaded with cool scratches and scars, and brown hair.

The second boy still was yet to acknowledge James' and his existence, but the blond boy was staring right at them questioningly.

"What's a dung bomb?" He asked finally breaking the tension to which James chuckled quietly.

"would you like to come see?" James asked standing up as the boy nodded eagerly.

"What's your name by the way?" Sirius asked.

"Peter" he replied quietly not saying his last name either, though for some reason Sirius had a feeling he did it purposefully.

James turned around and walked out of the compartment, and Sirius followed behind. The boy Peter was about to follow when he remembered the last boy. He walked up and pulled his arm signaling for him to follow.

"C'mon Remus we are gonna see a dung bomb, whatever that is" he said. The boy got up going with the flow of peter's relentless tugging, though Sirius was pretty sure he had no idea what was going on since he continued reading all the way to the compartment James apparently had his eyes set upon.

Sirius and James were grinning ear to ear in anticipation, and Peter was also grinning though his was a nervous one. Then there was the other boy, Remus, Sirius remembered, who was still reading.

James handed Sirius the dung bomb and then silently moved his arm as though he was throwing it and pointed into the compartment. He wants me to do it! Sirius thought excitedly This was gonna be epic he thought and proceeded to pull the string out that sparked the bomb like a muggle gernade and tossed it into the compartment.

Several loud shrieks were heard and a foul stench was seeping out from the compartment.

"What is going on?!"came a confused voice from behind the three. As it turned out, Remus had finally gotten his nose unstuck from between the pages of his book.

"Ah, I see the bookworm has come to. Now run!" Sirius said and grabbed Remus' arm as the four of them ran from the foul smelling compartment.

Sirius and James were laughing, while Peter was grinning wildly, and Remus just looked immensely confused. The four of them got back to the compartment and collapsed. By this point they were all laughing to some extent even the bookworm. Perhaps he wasn't so bad Sirius thought to himself.

They spent the rest of the time talking and laughing and joking. The boys were all amazed when they saw the castle for the first time, and Sirius could hear noises of aw coming from the other compartments as well. Soon they were gliding across the lake in little rowboats. The castle's image reflected off the water almost blocking out the moon's reflection, but not quite. The moon was a half moon big and waxy and yellow. Upon further inspection the sky yielded more sights, there were more stars than Sirius had ever seen before. Growing up in the city tends to block out most of the stars, but now he could see them. Then the sky was blocked out and he realized they had entered a cave beneath the school. The boats ground to a halt and the first years all got off, and were taken into a large entrance area where a stern looking woman was waiting for them.

"I hope you're ready" she said "you are about to be sorted, the sorting is where it is decided which house you will be in. Your house will be both your home and your family away from your normal home and family. The four houses are hufflepuff for the loyal, slytherin for the ambitious, ravenclaw for the wise, and Gryffindor for the brave. Although you may be sorted into one house it does not mean that you do not posses the qualities of the other houses. It simply means that the quality of your house is more dominant than the others. Now let the sorting begin!" She turned around and threw open the doors and strode through them robes billowing behind her.

They all followed in an unorganized clumpy line filled with nervous whispering. They were surrounded by the four house tables, each occupied with many older eyes that appeared to be staring holes in them. Then a voice started singing. It sang a beautiful tune about the houses and the sorting, though Sirius was to busy trying to find the singer that he wasn't paying too much attention to the words, finally when the song was ending he realized that it was the hat that was singing. Sirius was wondering why there was a hat up there to begin with when the first name was called. 

 

"Alta, Caroline" I heard the woman's voice again. A short girl who looked scared out of her wits Approached the stool. The hat was placed on her head and after a minute of total silence a voice came from the hat proclaiming her a slytherin.

I guess she'll be one of my house mates. I wonder what she's like, Sirius thought to himself, and then zoned out for a bit waiting for his name to be called. It bothered him how nervous these kids were, he already knew where he was going and he wasn't nervous. So then why were they so nervous, they were a bunch of babies, he thought to himself. Oh great, he thought fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he was probably gonna be stuck in a class full of Hufflepuffs.

James seemed to be acting cool though, he'll probably be in the awesome slytherin house with me, Sirius thought.

"Black, Sirius" came a voice calling his name jerking him out of his thoughts.

Sirius walked up and turned around to sit on the stool. Right before the hat fell over his eyes he saw James wearing the most horrified expression. I wonder why he thought confused before another voice showed up in his head.

'Aaahhhh, another Black I see. You have all the necessary criteria and ambitions that have been implanted in you by your parents to be Slytherin. Well I suppose that's where you belong.' and for a fraction of a second the sound of an S was loud enough to be heard by the rest of the great hall, but then it stopped.

'Oh, what is this?' The hat sounded shocked and curious. 'You are different? I see you let off a dung bomb today did you, it felt good didn't it?' and Sirius nodded before realizing the hat probably couldn't see him nod.

'well I see that you have the spark in you to be different and to go against what you have been taught. You could be different, but it will take courage to go against you're family like this. Do not misunderstand me, anyone from any house can be different, but I see your situation you will need quite a bit of courage on your part.'

Sirius was having a bit of trouble following, where was the hat going with this? He was still gonna be in Slytherin, right? in response to his confusion the hat answered.

'You will need a second family, one that can teach you the value of courage and how to harness it. Therefore I sort you into....'

And that was where time seemed to pause for Sirius, that second right before the word that would change his life forever was yelled across the hall.

"GRYFFINDOR" The hat screamed and the hall went silent.

Sirius froze, what? Gryffindor, that band of mudblood loving gits! He was gonna be one of them! Sirius fumed.

Right before the hat was lifted off his head he heard it whisper 'good luck kid' then his view of the great hall was restored. It was still dead silent and filled with surprised faces, including his own. The Slytherin's faces slowly went from shock to disgust, and the Gryffindors faces went from disgusted to shocked. Sirius didn't know what to do.

Then he heard one solo applause, it was James. He was grinning big and his hands were clapping so fast they appeared blurred together, then slowly others joined in. He got up from the stool and walked over to the Gryffindor table sitting down still in a state of shock. The first clear sensible thought he had was. I, Sirius black, am so dead.


	3. The Challenge

As it turned out James, Peter, and Remus had all ended up in Gryffindor as well. They weren't horrified at their own misfortune though, but instead seemed very happy with their house. Almost as if being a Gryffindor was a good thing, but that couldn't be true Sirius thought remembering what his parents said about Gryffindor. Not they, but we, Sirius reminded himself, he was one of them now.

"C'mon mate, I know the moving staircases are cool and stuff, but we can't lose the group or else we won't know the password." A voice said breaking into Sirius' subconscious. It was James, of course, and Sirius started walking up the stairs again with him.

They reached the stairs with the rest of the first years and an older boy. They all found themselves facing a portrait that depicted a very fat lady in a dress that appeared to have been styled centuries ago.

"This, is the fat lady everyone, she guards the entrance to Gryffindor tower." said the older boy and the lady smiled and waved at all the first years.

"The only way to get past her and into the tower is to tell her the password, which is IRISH NIFFLER." the older boy said loudly and the fat lady smiled and swung on her hinges opening up into a big room. The room had red and gold walls, cushy looking couches surrounding a fireplace, and other furniture scattered around the room.

They all climbed through the portrait hole, and looked around. Sirius found it strange how the common room of such awful people felt so homey. He had always pictured it to be full of trophies and like a pub where people are always boasting. Now that he thought about it though he supposed the brave did need a home to return to.

"Boys dorms are up the stairs to our right and girl's are up the stairs to your left. You should find all your stuff up in your dorms waiting for you." the boy explained

Other Gryffindors from higher years had started to filter into the common room, and it was filled with loud talk and laughter. Sirius wasn't used to places like this, his house and family gatherings were always stern and quiet aside from the occasional rant, and admittedly maybe a bit cold. The atmosphere was starting to get on his nerves, so he decided to head up to bed and turn in early.

Sirius climbed the stairs, and checked the first door for his name, and it was there, carved into the wood, Sirius Orion Black. After his came three other names Remus John Lupin, Peter Clayton Pettigrew, and James Fleamont Potter. So i'm sharing a room with the three boys on the train, he thought and felt oddly indifferent even though about two hours ago he had considered them friends.

Although James' reaction to the whole situation now made sense, he was a filthy Potter, Sirius had heard his family speak of them. They were pure blood, but they were Gryffindors, and mudblood loving traitors. Then he remembered that he was one of those Gryffindor traitors.

He was so very confused. How had this happened? I was a good kid wasn't I, why had the sorting hat thought I possessed these horrible traits? he thought and shrugged opening the door stepping into the dorm. A flash of movement alerted him that he wasn't alone, out of the corner of his eye he saw the boy Remus pull a shirt over his head. Before it was all the way on he caught a glance of something on his back, but just shrugged it off thinking it must've been a birthmark.

"Hey Remus" Sirius said walking over to his bed and pulling pajamas out of his trunk.

"Hey" he replied simply, climbing into bed and grabbing a book off his end table.

Sirius quickly changed and slid under the covers. It was really comfy he realized delightedly, at least there was one good thing about this place.

"Good night" Sirius said closing the curtains around his bed,

"night" Sirius heard Remus say before he settled into bed and fell asleep.

Sirius had horrible dreams that night. The worst part was they were real, not some shark or zombie, but his reality. Well at least what was sure to become his reality. He saw his parents yelling and throwing curses at him, and the worst part was he could see the hate in their eyes. His own parents would hate him the second they found out. Then there was Regulus, Sirius was gonna leave him to be his parents only real child. Sure he might be loved, but they would put the weight of all their expectations on him. Worse still was that Regulus would probably hate him too, Sirius doubted they would ever get along after this.

Sirius woke up with a start. He was sweaty and breathing heavily, and could feel himself shaking all over. Needless to say he was a mess. He slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, turning on the sink and splashing water on his face. He groaned, my family is so going to kill me, he thought to himslef. At this point Sirius was really hoping he wouldn't have to go home. Ever. that is if my parents even lets me come home. Sirius reminded himself. Either way, he doubted it would be much of a home anymore.

Sirius looked back in the mirror, and met his reflection, which showed a sweaty, pale, and shaky Sirius. Basically, he looked like absolute shit. Then he heard the door creak and he jumped looking over at it. to Sirius' shock he saw a blurry eyed James with hair messier than before, glasses crooked, and wearing quidditch pjs with little brooms and beaters bats.

"Why are you up?" James asked his voice groggy, and rough.

"Ummmmmm, cause I wanna be" Sirius said hoping James wouldn't notice how awful he looked.

"then why do you look like you're sick?" James asked crossing his arms over his chest. Then upon examining Sirius more closely added softly"Are you alright?"

"yah, why wouldn't I be?" Sirius scoofed "my life ONLY ended when that stupid hat yelled Gryffindor"

"What's that supposed to mean, Gryffindor's a great house." James said sounding slightly miffed.

"No it's not, it's the worst house there is, I was supposed to be Slytherin like the rest of my family." Sirius huffed, he was starting to feel a horrible tightening down in his gut. All the disappointment and fear bubbling up and begging to be let out of him.

"It's not" Sirius repeated his voice breaking "it's a horrible house where blood traitors and mudbloods go, and now I'm supposed to be one of you lot." The tears had started pouring down Sirius' cheeks. He couldn't even help himself.

"My parents are going to hate me, I don't know what they'll do to me." His voice started becoming quieter, and he was sniffling way too much.

"They'll probably kick me out, or maybe they'll let me stay and beat me, it doesn't matter whether I stay or go I'll never be a part of my family again." He said breaking down, full out sobs were racking his body.

He hadn't cried since he was seven years old, and he had broken his arm. After it was healed his parents had hit him and told him that men didn't cry especially Black men. Now here he was sitting on the bathroom floor bawling his eyes out like a little baby. What would James think of him? Never mind that, James didn't matter, he was probably one of the scum sucking idiots his parents were always talking about. Then again wasn't he now one of those scum sucking idiots, and he didn't think he was a bad person this morning. Could he honestly have changed that much over the course of a few hours? He didn't understand, it made no sense. He was broken out of his thoughts by a hand being placed on his back.

"So I'm pretty sure you just insulted me, but it doesn't really matter because you seem pretty confused and I don't think you mean what your saying. I think you're just repeating what you've been told." James said

Sirius looked up at him shocked. He had a feeling he should be offended by what James had just told him, but Sirius was pretty sure he was just trying to be nice. Of course Sirius didn't want to admit it, but there was truth to what James had said. The only things he knew about the world were what he had heard from his parents, and for the first time sirius began to question them. James and him sat there for a while until finally Sirius calmed down and stopped crying.

"what are mudbloods and blood traitors?" James asked tentatively and Sirius looked at him shocked realizing just how innocent this boy was.

"A mudblood is someone who has both muggle parents, except it's an insult to call them that." Sirius began explaining "and a blood traitors is a pure blood who doesn't care that he's pure blooded and believes that mudbloods are equal to pure bloods."

"Well then I guess I'm a blood traitor" James said proudly.

"You believe all that stuff!" Sirius said horrified.

"As a matter of fact I do, and I think you should stop calling them mudbloods it's a nasty name." He said looking over at Sirius challengingly.

"Well they are nasty, they are horrible people who are practically muggles and don't deserve to be magical." Sirius ranted remembering what his parents had said, and James eyed him carefully.

"have you ever met a muggle born?" James asked taking Sirius by surprise.

Sirius hadn't, in fact, met one, he had always just gone off of what his parents told him. James found his answer in Sirius' silence.

"well then Sirius Black, I have a challenge for you." James declared and Sirius looked up interested, he'd always loved a good challenge.

"and that is?" Sirius asked.

"You will go the first week of school without knowing anyone's blood type" James said "you will assume they are all pure bloods like you and judge upon their personality rather than on blood status. You can't ask anyone what their blood type is, and you can't use the word mudblood." he finished and Sirius looked at him shocked.

"So basically you want me to stop doing what I've been doing for my whole life, what I've been trained to do since birth, and just start thinking completely differently in the course of a week!" Sirius scoffed

"yes I do" James replied nonchalantly like it wasn't hard at all. "and you can definitely do it. It'll be hard, but you need to do it. You need to develop opinions of your own rather than just following your parents ways blindly."

Sirius felt offended, but James was yet again, right, and Sirius knew it. Although his pride was begging him not to agree, Sirius figured that if he would be stuck with these people and he mine as well attempt to understand their ways.

"Fine I'll do it" he said

"good, now let's go to bed we have a big day tommorow." James said and they both got up and headed back to bed.

"Oh, and James don't tell anyone that any of that happened please." sirius asked, and through the darkness came James' response of

"wouldn't dream of it."


	4. A Howler and a Detention

Breakfast the next day was very interesting for Sirius. He kept looking around at the people in wonder. It was different being in a room with a bunch of people who were magical, but you didn't know who was worthy of that gift and who wasn't. After looking around for a while trying to deduce who was a mudblood and who wasn't he gave up. He simply couldn't just tell by looks.

This bothered him greatly, weren't you supposed to be able to tell a mudblood from a pure blood by looks. Shouldn't you be able to sense a pure bloods superiority? Yet he couldn't. It was an odd feeling. He turned back to his breakfast very disgruntled.

"Trying to tell by looks are we?" Came the voice to his right.

"You never said I couldn't" he retorted.

"no I didn't," James said smiling over his eggs "did you figure anyone out?" He was smirking now.

"no" Sirius said simply with a bitter tone.

The conversation would've continued had they both not been distracted by an owl swooping down to land in front of them. Sirius gulped recognizing the owl. It was his mum's. Even worse, he recognized the scarlet envelope it dropped in front of him, it was a howler. 

Sirius just stared at it in horror refusing to open it. Not that it mattered of course because five seconds after it had been dropped it the howler opened itself.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" It screeched loud enough to silence the entire hall. It was enough to terrify Peter, and to get Remus' attention away from his book. "YOU DON'T EVEN DESERVE TO WEAR OUR NAME. YOU FILTHY SWINE YOU PIECE OF BLOODY RUBBISH. YOU'RE ONE OF THEM NOW AREN'T YOU, ONE OF THOSE GRYFFINDOR TRASH. WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE SUCH A DISGRACE." Sirius blocked out the rest.

He was used to his parents yelling at him, but that didn't mean he didn't hate it. It was one of the things he hated most, being yelled at. By the time he was eight he had learned to block people out, while still making them think he was listening. Now though he didn't have to pretend he was listening. He sat stock still eyes glazed over not listening, and not caring.

"DON'T EVEN BOTHER COMING HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS" he heard her finish. Not like he would've anyways, he thought to himself while the howler tore itself up.

He just sat there silently not moving. He could feel the many eyes boring holes into him, but he did nothing. Don't give them a show and they won't be watching for much longer, he told himself. All he wanted to do was run as fast as possible out of the great hall, and out of the school, and keep running away forever.

He wanted out of this, he no longer had a real family, and all the relatives and friends he had once had now hated him, and would surely act on it. But of course he couldn't, it was a nice thought though to be able to just run away. The silence soon ended as people realized the show was over, and Sirius relaxed his shoulders. He didn't talk, and the people sitting near him thankfully didn't talk to him either. James though seemed concerned and kept opening his mouth like he was going to say something then closing it as if he had decided against it. It was quite annoying.

Spit it out James!" He finally exclaimed getting annoyed. "Well the way I figure it everyone's either gonna think your weak or they'll pity you now." He explained.

"why thank you James, next time I need a pep talk I know who I'm going to." Sirius replied mocking enthusiasm.

"Let me finish mate, jeez. I was gonna say that you need to make sure that doesn't happen. Let's prank someone. No one will think your weak after that, they'll love you." He said grinning, and Sirius quickly caught on, it was a good idea. "

"And what exactly did you have in mind?" Sirius replied grinning.  
................................................................  
That was how four hours later Peter, Remus, James, and Sirius ended up in the boys dormitory planning. Well actually James and Sirius were the only ones planning. Remus was yet again reading, and Peter only understood about half of what they were saying so he wasn't really helping much.

"Alright, so tomorrow morning we get up early before everyone else is up. Then we sneak out of the common room. We find a house elf and have them get your painting supplies and pink paint." James said.

"Then we go into the great hall, and paint the house banners and all the tables pink." Sirius added.

"And if we have time we get the chairs too. Then when they sit on them the paint will still be wet, and their clothes will have pink paint." James added.

"Oooooh, and don't forget to paint the princess dress on the animals on the house flags." Sirius added excitedly.

Both boys were both practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Peter then realized that they had finished planning.

"So basically we just have to paint a bunch of stuff?" Peter asked.

"Yah, I guess so" Sirius said looking at James.

"You in, Remus?" James asked and all they heard was a grunt from the bed.

"I'll take that as a yes then."James said.

That night the boys went to bed early, but had a hard time falling asleep, well except Peter, he fell right asleep. Then there was Remus who wasn't even trying to go to sleep, but was instead reading. Sirius and James finally gave up after about fifteen minutes of trying to sleep.

"Wanna play wizards chess." Sirius asked, his voice cutting through the darkness.

"yah" was James' reply, and Sirius heard him get out of bed.

Five minutes later they had set up the game and were about to begin playing, when they heard a book close. They both looked over and saw that Remus had finished his book.

"Are you going to start socializing now that you've finished reading?" Sirius said sarcastically, and Remus looked up startled.

"I didn't realize you would want to be friends with someone like me." He said.

Now it was james and sirius' turn to be confused.

"why wouldn't we want to be friends with you" James asked hesitantly and Remus looked scared like he knew he'd said something wrong.

"Uhhhhh, I-I don't know" he said with the air of someone trying to cover something up.

Sirius simply shrugged it off and dismissed it, this kid didn't seem very dangerous. I mean come on, how many eleven year olds do you know that are evil. Sure they could be obnoxious or disgusting, but no one is truly evil at this age, he reasoned.

"Would you like to come play wizards chess with us?" James asked, also dismissing his last few statements.

"I've never played, my parents didn't have a set he replied shrugging.

"We'll teach you, mate." Sirius said.

All of the sudden Sirius had decided he liked this kid. When he always had his head stuck in a book Sirius got the impression of some sort of an annoyingly obsessive nerd, but now that he wasn't reading Remus was different. The entire demeanor That could be seen before had disappeared.

What Sirius later came to realize was that his books were his shield from the world, and while he was hidden behind one, then the world and all its cruelties didn't exist. This trick never worked for Sirius, but he found himself a shield later, everyone does. Most call them escapes or addictions, but Sirius liked to call them shields.

That isn't important at the moment though, Sirius thought to himself. Remus, James, and him had a great time that night, and when morning came they were all still awake. At two in the morning the alarm James had set went off, and the three of them woke Peter up. It took multiple tries, but they eventually succeeded.

They were walking out the door of the dormitories, when Remus said rather loudly, "it's awful dark for it to be time for school yet, don't you think."

They all turned around and shushed him. "We didn't get up for school, we got up to prank remember" James whispered.

"Wait, what? I was not aware of these plans." Remus said still too loud for Sirius's comfort.

"Yes you were." James hissed "you were there the entire time we planned it, and you agreed, ya nitwit. Now C'mon, we gotta go, we only have a few hours, and we have a lot of work to do. Remus if you want you can go back to bed, but we expect you not to tattle on us." James said ushering us along.

"I won't, I promise." Remus said turning back into their dormitory "oh, and guys" he said and we all turned around "this better be a dang good prank." The three of them all cracked evil grins and Sirius mock saluted him right before they all parted ways.

Two and a half hours later the three had finally finished their masterpiece. Each table was pink all the way down, and the boys had even managed to get all the benches too. The house flags had all been, let's say customized, by Sirius. It turned out he was actually a really good artist, and he'd had no idea. I guess all those handwriting classes my parents made me do actually did help after all, he thought to himself .

The slytherin snake was now wearing a quite fashionable pink princess dress. The Hufflepuff badger had pink highlights in its fur. The Ravenclaw eagle now had pink high heels on its clawed feeds and appeared to be leaving behind a trail of pink, though the boys had all agreed it looked like a fart. Then, of course, they had to cover the Gryffindors too. The lion had pink paw prints leading behind him and trailing off the banner. The lion also had a pink princess tiara.

They had finished, and cleaned up everything and were sneaking back to their dorm now, and were planning on getting the last forty five minutes of sleep left before they would have to get up and ready for the beginning of breakfast.

They all passed out the second each of them reached their own beds, and Remus dutifully woke them all up on time. They got ready and raced down to the great hall to wait outside with the few other early birds. A few minutes later the headmaster, Dumbledore came and open the doors letting all the in. It was immediately obvious that something was off to everyone else, and Sirius would have to say Remus' face was the best though, he had been expecting something he just hadn't know what. Now he was gazing around in windy his lips quirked upwards in a smile.

"I have to say, this is quite impressive." Remus said grinning a bit.

People soon got over their wonder and went to sit down. When a few of them did they made icky faces and stood back up looking at their behinds, which were now covered in sticky pink paint. Remus and Sirius' group was now over by the Gryffindor table laughing with a few others at those unlucky enough to sit down. The great hall filled quickly, and there seemed to be quite a ruckus about a certain paint job. After a while everyone heard a voice booming above the rest.

"would everyone quiet down!" Dumbledore said, and his order was immediately followed. "Would the artists of this mornings lovely display please step forward." There was a twinkle in the man's eyes that told Sirius not only would it be safe to admit it had been him, but it would also be the smart thing.

He climbed on top of a bench to be seen above everyone else at the same time James did the same thing while yelling "it was me!" Peter said soon joining his yells, but then they were both silenced.

"Although I do have great appreciation for this kind of artwork, I would like to suggest you try to keep it contained a bit more next time." He said with a small chuckle "see you in detention tonight young sirs." At that there seemed to be some sort of an invisible cue, because everyone else started talking.

"Woohoo we got our first detentions!!!!" James said excitedly.

"Wait, hold up, you buffoons were actually TRYING to get detention." Remus said, exaggerating the word trying in disbelief.

"Yep" Sirius replied solemnly.

"may I ask why?" Remus asked.

"so everyone could forget about the howler incident yesterday. If you want people to stop talking about something then you give them something else to talk about." James said shrugging.

"You guys are so weird" Remus said rolling his eyes, but you could still see the smile he was trying to repress.


	5. The end of Year One

Since the previous day's events during breakfast had put Sirius in a rather horrid mood for the rest of the day, he hadn't payed too much attention to anything that happened yesterday. Today on the other hand, he was in a great mood due to the events during breakfast.   
He had also neglected to be social with anyone outside of his dorm, and today he met lots of new people. To start off with in his first class, Herbology, he sat next to a red headed girl named Lily Evans.   
After they introduced themselves, they ended up having a discussion on a certain illegal plant that was part of the lesson that day. It was called Skenypot, and could be used to brew many dark potions. Hence the reason it was illegal.   
Lily was a very charismatic girl. She was definitely smart, and she was also humble and kind, but not meek.  
she definitely had some spirit in her. The two of them got along quite splendidly, and they seemed to be becoming great friends.   
Even if their conversation was on something as ridiculous as a plant they still had a few laughs.   
"Ya know my grand mum used to grow this stuff." Sirius said to her quietly.   
"Are you serious!" She exclaimed.   
"Yes, I believe I am" He replied. It took her a second to get it, but when she did she giggled.   
"I walked into that one didn't I" she said still grinning.   
"I believe you did" Sirius said grinning back. Just then the teacher started the lesson, and their conversation ended.  
It also turned out that there were four other Gryffindor boys in Sirius' year. It was one of the few times the school actually had to provide two separate dorms. These four were Frank Longbottom, Lyle Abbot, Max Prewett, and James Thomas, and Sirius met them all at lunch that day. They nine of them later played a massive wizards chess tournament in the common room.  
Sirius also realized that there was no sense worrying about his parents who were far away. He should enjoy his time here, and focus on making a great name here, and creating a good life to come back to after what was likely to be a horrid summer.   
This is just what he did. Sirius and James became known as the pranking kings of the school. The reputation came slowly throughout the year. The whole school was abuzz every time they pranked. The students were very fond of the pair, which soon became a foursome. They were even prophesied to be the biggest prankster in the school, and the boys had seven long years to wreak havoc.   
Throughout the year Sirius learned loads about magic. Despite being trouble makers they did want to learn magic, if only to make their tricks easier. As a consequence they also served many detentions, even Remus got a few.   
Even though Remus was a bit anti- social throughout the year he had warmed up to us, Sirius thought. He was like that one kid in every class who never talks, but if you talked to him enough he'd eventually start to respond and warm up to you and before you know it he's your best friend. He had a bit of a quirky attitude and was smart. He was also the only one in their group who managed to maintain a friendship with Lily Evans. The only weird thing about him was his monthly disappearances, but James, Peter, and Sirius were all just twelve year old boys so none of them cared enough to notice. Aside from me, but I was always more observant than most gave me credit for, Sirius thought.   
Peter Pettigrew was a timid little boy who just needed help coming out of his shell a bit. When in others company he tended to just hang out in the background, but when he was with Remus, James, and Sirius he felt he was part of the team. He helped with any pranks that needed set ups, and was quite great at building little contraptions out of random objects. For instance he could build a slingshot out of a muggle pen and a rubber band. The group then enhanced it to shoot water balloons into a sea full of students.   
James Potter was a great Caring friend who had a knack for pranking. He had managed to screw up a friendship with a girl named Lily Evans in the beginning of the year along with Sirius. He had been dumb enough to make fun of her best friend while in her presence, and despite Remus' many explanations the two boys still had no idea what they had done that was wrong.   
Then there was Sirius, he went through a complete transformation throughout the course of first year. He would now dare to call himself a full fledged Gryffindor, and was quite proud of it. There was no more confused Sirius who wanted to please his parents. Now he wanted nothing more than to defy them. He felt ready to face them, and tell them their beliefs were wrong and that he was right. He, of course, didn't take into account his complete lack of power seeing as he was only twelve, and would find the summer much harder than he had anticipated. Suffice it to say that the hat was right when it said that Sirius Black, would need courage.  
And so ends the marauders first year at Hogwarts.


	6. Remus's Summer

Remus' pov:

Remus liked school way better. Although his parents did love him, it didn't stop their hidden fear of what he was. They hated that part of him, and as much as Remus hated it too it still hurt to know that his parents hated any part of him. Isn't a parent supposed to love every aspect of their child? Well I must not count seeing as I'm not exactly a normal child he thought to himself.   
You're probably wondering what brought on these kinds of thoughts in Remus. Well for starters he is a werewolf. You see Remus' dad had made a decree about werewolf rights that a certain werewolf didn't like. His name struck fear in many, Fenrir Grayback. The werewolf had positioned himself outside baby Remus' nursery window on the night of a full moon. He waited for the change, and when it came he entered the babies room and bit him. That was how Remus had contracted the horrible disease.   
At least at Hogwarts Remus could escape his parents concerned and pitying looks. The only reason for this though was because no one at Hogwarts aside from Dumbledore knew what he was. That was good. Remus couldn't stand it if his friends hated him, and he figured it would be better if he could keep his condition a secret.  
All this was going through Remus' head as he waited. Waited on the moon inside the tiny cellar under his house. It was the best his parents could do for him. It was made completely of concrete aside from the door which was metal that was enchanted to only open from the outside. There was nothing down here only bare walls of boring grey concrete. His werewolf form liked to attack the walls and the door, which resulted in a surprising amount of injury. Then there were the bad nights where his wolf decided it would be far more entertaining to hurt Remus instead.  
Needless to say it was pretty bad, and it would only get worse as he got older and the wolf grew more powerful. Remus could take it though, and he would continue to take it without too much complaint as long as he never hurt anybody. Remus and his wolf were polar opposites. Remus wouldn't hurt a fly, whereas the wolf would kill and hurt any living thing it could reach,  
including itself.   
Remus' thoughts were interrupted by a shooting pain in his spine. He felt it elongating along with every other bone in his body. Of course his bones couldn't just elongate though, they each snapped all at once and somehow formed new longer ones that took different shapes all in a few seconds. Suffice it to say that it hurt a lot more than any pain you've ever felt. Next came the hair, sprouting from every pore everywhere. Then the eyes which he felt oddly go through a compressed cycle of contracting and dilating until his vision became sharp like a wolves in about two seconds. Then his teeth grew longer and developed points giving what little part of him that could still feel pain have a wicked toothache. That part of him soon shut down along with his humanity.  
If his parents hadn't soundproofed the room his ear-splitting howls would've been heard throughout the night by the whole town. That didn't matter to Remus anymore though, in fact for the night Remus didn't exist. There was a wolf in his place howling, and hopelessly attacking walls as well as the body he is borrowing for the night.   
Remus woke up on a couch in his living room the next morning to his mum spoon feeding him a blood replenishing potion. It must have been a particularly bad night if she was digging into those reserves. Then again nothing else could've been expected. The wolf had gotten used to having an entire shack to itself. A tiny cellar must have felt like a cage that it needed to escape.   
This cycle was repeated three times over the summer holidays. His summer wasn't all bad though. When he wasn't under the influence of the full moon and had fully recovered from his last full moon he did not have to suffer his parents pitying looks. It was almost as if they could ignore their child's disease  
if there wasn't any evidence that there was anything wrong with him.   
None of this mattered to Remus, because he knew he could have it a lot worse. He also knew that despite what he had been thinking earlier his parents didn't hate him they hated the wolf.   
Another good thing that happened was Remus socializing. Up until going to Hogwarts, Remus had rarely seen outside of the house. Much less had many friends. He had friends now though, and his parents were letting him him hang out with the other three boys in his dorm. See his parents had been big supporters when he was little of lying low so no one suspected anything. So the fact that his parents were letting him hang out with his friends if only for a few hours was really a big deal.   
Remus hadn't had any friends before this year, and the fact that now he did was a miracle. His socializing was a gift to Remus, and it's memory was treated like a prized possession.   
I'll say this, as far as Remus' summers had gone before now this was by far the best one.


	7. Peter's Summer

Peter's summer:

Peter had an interesting family to say the least. He was muggle born, and his parents, although a bit on the poor side, loved him dearly. The issue only came every once in a while.   
His dad was a great guy, you have to understand. He would play catch with Peter and go fishing. He was a hard working man, and loved to listen to his son's stories from school. His issue was his transformations. He had some sort of mental disease. It couldn't be said what it was because no one exactly knew.  
His Dad didn't even know there was anything wrong with him. Peter and his Mum knew it wasn't Mr. Pettigrew on those nights, so they didn't want the kind man to know the damage he caused.   
Tonight was one of those nights. His Dad was rampaging around their small cottage in search of his wife and son. They never knew when it would happen or what caused it, but nevertheless it came.   
Mr. Pettigrew turned into a monster every once in a while. Not a magical beast like a werewolf or a vampire, but an entirely human one. Whatever he wanted he got by force, and all you could do was hide and hope he didn't find them.   
Tonight he was in the kitchen ripping open a can of beer and downing it. Peter and his Mum were both hiding under the rocket ship shaped bed in Peter's room. Peter finding himself filled with more courage after his year in Gryffindor was in front of his mum so that she was behind him.   
He heard the boots pounding closer and closer until the door to his room burst open, and the boots came to stand right in front of the bed. Then a face appeared upside down grinning like the psychopath he was. "Come out little mouse, or else I'll drag you out." Peter, knowing he was better off just listening to his Father did as he was told.   
He still stood protectively in front of his bed hoping his dad hadn't seen his mum yet, who had currently been having a full force panic attack under the bed. It was the only reason she wasn't jumping in front of Peter now, because she was actually physically incapable.   
His dad had seen her though, but he wanted to test Peter. "Where's the girl?" He said gruffly, and Peter responded by shrugging his shoulders in an 'I don't know' manner.   
"LIAR" he roared and picked Peter up as if he was nothing and threw him across the room and into a wall as if he weighed nothing. His dad dropped down and kicked him a few times until he knew Peter wouldn't be getting up to help his Mum any time soon. Then he dropped down and dragged Peter's mum put from under the bed.   
She was sickly pale looking in the light of the moon, and she was shaking like a leaf. Her eyes were blown wide with fear, and her chest rose and fell rapidly.   
"Aww, are you scared?" He cooed at her mockingly. She didn't move or respond, and he just laughed in this sick way that would probably never leave Peter's nightmares.  
That night seemed to never end. It went on and on until finally a bottle was smashed over Peter's head, and he didn't open his eyes again. He was lucky, sometimes he didn't get knocked out, and was conscious for the whole night.   
His eyes slowly blinked open. He was On the ground curled up in a fetal position. Everywhere was sore, and he was pretty sure he'd broken a rib. His room was a mess, and he stood up taking a few minutes to make some sense out of the pain induced haze.   
Eventually he finished tidying up, and headed out to get a bite to eat. He was met with a sight he was not expecting. His dad was at the stove cooking eggs. Peter ran to his dad hugging him tightly ignoring the pain, because his rib was most definitely broken.   
Everything was ok now though, because his dad was back and that's all that mattered. He only had two more weeks of summer left, and there had only been about four bad days so far. The rest of the summer was going to be great with just him and his family.


	8. James's Summer

James' summer:

"Hey mum, can we go over to quality quidditch to get a new snitch? I think ours is broken." James said walking into the kitchen where his mum was making some sort of baked good. "That smells delicious mummy, I can't wait to try it" he added his eyes rolling back in delight while breathing in the fragrance.   
"We can stop by tomorrow when we got to Diagon Alley for school shopping" she said pulling a pan of cookies out of the muggle oven that she insisted upon using much to James' bewilderment. "That is, of course, if your Father has a look at it, and confirms that it really is broken." She added huffing in an attempt to blow a piece of hair out of her face.   
Mrs. Potter was a very lovely women with long brown wavy hair that was usually held up in a messy bun. She had soft Amber eyes that glowed lovingly, and wrinkles around them from years of smiling. She was always ready with a hug or cup of hot cocoa when you needed it, but was a force to be reckoned with when it came to any game involving strategy. She was a Ravenclaw after all.   
The only one who could compare was of course James' Father. Mr. Potter had jet black messy hair that could not under any circumstance be tamed. He had brown eyes that depending on the situation could be as hard as the earth or be soft like melting chocolate. Where Mrs. Potter brought the brains, Mr. Potter brought the brawn. He was a hardcore Gryffindor after all. When they worked together they were unstoppable, but when they didn't it was never clear who would win.   
Nevertheless James' parents had one thing in common, and that was a deep love for their son. They would have taken the moon from the sky if it would prove their love. He was an only child due to his parents old age, and with the Potter's wealth it was safe to say that James was a bit spoiled.  
"Alright mum, do you know when he'll be coming home from work?" he asked.   
James had been waiting excitedly all day for his dad to return seeing as his father had promised they would all play a game of quidditch as a family when he got home.   
"He should be home any minute now" she said noticing her son's excitement. Just then there was a crack and Fleamont Potter appeared in the kitchen.   
"Dad, Dad, Dad!" James yelled in excitement bouncing on his heels "Are you ready for a game of quidditch? I'm going to beat you this time just you wait!"   
"Mr. Potter laughed "Just give me a few minutes to get changed. Why don't you go get everything ready." he suggested   
"Ok, Dad" James replied and bounded outside quickly. Mr. Potter walked over to his wife and kissed her on the forehead.   
"How was work today" she asked already knowing the answer from the bags under his eyes.   
"it was fine sweetie, how was your day?" he replied trying to divert the conversation from himself.   
"Liar" she said simply, he let out a heavy sigh. "What's going on Fleamont, every time you come home you look more and more stressed." she asked quietly her voice full of concern, wrapping her hands around his waist.   
"There are bad things rising, whispers turning to crime scenes. Someone is rising and is gaining more followers by the week.He is known as the Dark Lord, and he has a penchant for violence against those whose blood is considered 'impure'." Mr. Potter sighed and rubbed his fingers over his temples. "There are plenty of reasons to believe that we will catch him of course, but I just can't help feeling that something very dark is coming." he finished the weight of his words weighing down on the both of them as they stood holding each other.  
"It'll be okay" said Mrs. Potter burying her head in her husband's chest "We are a family, and we will get through whatever is coming together." the finality in her tone brought comfort to them both, and on that note they both went outside to play quidditch with their son while wearing fake smiles that were quite unnecessary.  
James was very talented when it came to reading people. He knew that his dad was not okay and he knew that his mother knew it too. That paired with the fact that James had already gotten everything prepared before his Father arrived was why James found himself crouching outside the door listening intently to his parents voices. As he listened one particular person kept passing through his mind. Perhaps that person should've been Lucius Malfoy or Severus Snape two people of whom James knew were like this Dark Lord in their beliefs in blood purity. It wasn't them, but his best mate Sirius Black who, although having written several letters, had not heard from him once all summer. He wondered if his friend was in fact alright, or if the sinking feeling he got in his gut was right and Sirius wasn't alright at all


	9. Sirius's Summer

Sirius' miserable summer had started the second he had stepped foot on the platform and his mother had grabbed him by the ear and apparated them back to number twelve Grimmauld Place. He had then, after much yelling and hate from his parents, been sent up to his room until dinner. That was a surprise really, that they still planned on feeding him. After all the hatred that had been sent his way he had half expected to be starved over the summer.   
Sirius had been right though, he would be starved over the summer. His parents were just cruel enough to give him a sliver of hope that first night only to crush it. He got one meal a day at dinner most of the time, if you could call what they gave him a meal.   
He was fed the scraps of whatever meal his family ate, and then there were some days he wasn't allowed to eat at all. Sirius was allowed a seat at the dinner table still, but he soon found out that it was only so that his parents could sit and spew venom at him as he ate.   
His parents watched him all the time, waiting for him to do something wrong so he could be punished. Simply not standing straight enough or not using proper English would often result in abuse, and if he dared speak a word against any of the pure blood ideals he would regret it.   
Today was on of the really bad days. The skin on his back was singing in agony remembering the cursed whip that had struck it until he'd passed out. He felt empty, both physically and mentally.   
His stomach was aching quietly to tired to grumble and beg to be fed. When was the last time he ate? Two, Three days ago? He honestly had no idea, and there was a part of him that just didn't care.   
What was worse was the other emptiness, the one that he felt both in his chest and in his mind. It was the kind of emptiness that you don't wish for. It wasn't the blissful, peaceful, uncaring emptiness that most craved, but the kind that seemed to claw at the inside of you as if you were so empty that you could simply fold in upon yourself. The kind that hurt.   
He was standing in front of his mirror in the early hours of the morning. It was the day he was to go back to school, and he was both anticipating and dreading it. It was the moment that he had held together for all summer, the moment where everything would be okay again.   
There was another voice though, in the back of his mind whispering horrible things to him. The words felt like venom injected into his heart, then spreading to his mind and finally his soul changing everything.  
"Look at yourself, you look as if you are a hastily assembled skeleton in a science classroom, one could barely say you have skin." The voice was right of course his skin was stretched and unhealthy looking, almost translucent over his bones, which stuck out far too much.   
"Take off your shirt" the voice instructed. He did, and what he saw was painful to look at even though it was his own skin.   
His ribs were very defined each one separated, and there were valleys between his hip bones. Sinewy muscle traced his arms and abdomen, the kind you get from starving, but having to push on anyways. That wasn't the worst part though. His skin was many shade of colors, ranging from ghostly pale to the greenish yellow of healing bruises to the dark blues purples and blacks of newly inflicted ones and the deep reds of scars that were still forming  
"Think about James, the one you've been holding out for, would he even recognize you?" Sirius hadn't thought about this before, what if James didn't recognize him. He didn't know what he would do then, all of this had been for James after all. James had been the one to teach him that maybe his parents were wrong, that maybe he was wrong.   
"What if James is wrong, I mean think of all the pain his worldview has brought down on you, how can something as good as he claims bring so much harm?" That was the worst thing the voice had said so far, but then it got worse.   
"They'll hate you, your friends, they don't deserve someone like you as their friend. You'll weigh them down. Look at yourself you're a mess. You're broken. You. Are. Damaged."   
Those words were still bouncing around his head as they arrived at Kings Cross station. Before they ran through the wall onto the platform his father pulled him aside.   
"It would be in both our best interests of you kept what happens over the summer a secret, do you understand boy? There was an undertone in his voice clearly stating that it would also be in his best interest to agree.   
"Yes, Sir" he replied wanting nothing more than to get on that train and be taken back home, to Hogwarts. His father nodded and that was all.   
It was to be his brother Regulus' first year at Hogwarts. Sirius and his brother used to be as close as, well, brothers, but his brother had not uttered a word to him all summer. This most likely was due to the fact that all the weight of upholding the black's family righteousness had fallen squarely upon eleven year old Regulus' shoulders. Sirius felt a bit sorry for him, most especially for leaving his brother in that position. He had grown up trying to protect Regulus, but now, however much it might eat away at him, he couldn't.   
Sirius made a bolt for the train the second he got a chance after watching his family say goodbye to what seemed to be their only son who was going away to school for the first time. Once he was on he started headed down the length of the train planning to sit in the last compartment like he had last year. He was stopped short by a tug on his sleeve.   
He turned around to find the last person he expected to see. Regulus was standing behind him looking, for the first time all summer, like a real person. His emotions were clearly etched across his face for once instead of the mask he had been taught to wear, and Sirius was relieved beyond belief that none of the emotions he saw there were anger or hate.   
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't have spoken to you until now without risking punishment for both of us." He said tentatively.  
"it's okay Reg, I understand" Sirius replied in what he hoped to be a soothing voice.   
"I've been trying to come to terms with everything, what you did, and at first I believed mum and dad. I hated you just like they do, but then I remembered the Siri that I knew, the one that would step in front of me when we got in trouble, and who would take the punishment." Regulus said quickly wringing his hands in a show of nerves. "I came to terms that if that was what being a Gryffindor meant than maybe I could be Okay with that, but then mum started spewing all this rubbish about you being a muggle lover and such. I puzzled over that until I realized that you wouldn't have done those kinds of things without a reason, and that maybe you are right. Anyways we don't have much time, but I wanted you to know that it's okay, and that I hope you can forgive me if I have been cold to you."   
Then he did the best thing that he possibly could've done. He held out a piece of bacon to a starving Sirius.   
Sirius was so gratified that he grabbed his brother and brought his brother into a bone crushing hug, and whispered in his ear.  
"we are okay, we'll be okay, I promise." Then he let go and grabbed the piece of bacon. "Now go find some nice Slytherins to sit with, don't make the same mistake I did. I don't want you to turn out like me, you'll be better than me by far." Sirius said shooing his brother off with a loving smile and bacon in his hands.   
As his brother turned away to go find a compartment Sirius grinned ferociously eating the bacon that seemed to melt in his mouth. For the first time since last year Sirius felt truly unstoppable.


	10. Scar Removal

Sirius stepped into the very last compartment on the Hogwarts express. Most of the train and platform were not too crowded as of yet thanks to the Black family's need to always be early. Seeing as most of the train car was still empty though, it came as no surprise that there was no one in the last compartment yet.   
He felt disappointed, though he had no idea who he had been hoping for. That was a lie, he knew exactly who he was hoping for, his friends. He would have given anything over the summer to see James, or to be strong for Peter and fill the role of a Gryffindor for his fearful friend, he would've given his right hand to see the mischievous glint in Remus' eyes or to have him whisper another wisecrack saying in his ear heck Sirius would've even been happy to have Lily yelling at him about how he shouldn't prank That arse of a greasball that she seemed to be friends with. He thought about these things as he had a hundred times before to keep him going over the summer, as he sat down smiling pleasantly and enjoying the after taste of bacon in his mouth.  
That was how James Potter and Remus Lupin found him, curled up on a seat in the corner of the compartment smiling to himself. He probably looked like a lunatic, and to be honest he probably was one. The door slid open noisily, and Sirius looked up catching James' eye. He saw a spark of relief and happiness in James' eyes, and that was enough for twelve year old Sirius to dismiss the voice that had been haunting him.   
Hey He flung himself off the seat into his friend's arms, and James did the same. They collided and clung on so tight it was as if they were trying to crush themselves into one person. All the pain from Sirius' summer evaporated in that moment, and all of James' anxiety over Sirius' well-being did as well. Although James clearly had reason to worry over his friend, at least now the ball was in his playing court and he could help instead of just worry.  
The hug was over quickly, and Sirius went over and hugged Remus who tentatively hugged back. A year ago, had anyone tried to hug him, he most likely would've pushed them aside. Even now had anyone else besides his three best friends or his brother tried to hug him he would do the same thing.   
He and his brother almost never had any physical contact, but over the years Sirius had come to realize that that did not necessarily mean it was unwelcome.   
His friends oddly enough had worn him down in a way that he hadn't thought possible. James had drawn into question everything he grew up believing. One that particularly had been troubling him was that he had started to consider that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't supposed to hurt every time someone touched you.   
Their greetings to each other had proved that to him well enough, but only for his friends. This most certainly did not mean he was going to go around letting everyone touch him, and it definitely didn't mean he would make these thoughts known to anyone but himself. Even Sirius who was questioning everything he knew, was sure that such topics that would not be considered normal for any twelve year old to be pondering.

...............................................................................................................................................................

Sirius had stuffed himself at the opening feast, and he was paying dearly for it. The food had been so good, and he had been so hungry that he simply couldn't help himself. although that certainly wasn't helping him any now, he thought bitterly as he leaned over the toilet bowl emptying the contents of his stomach. He sat back, crumpling against the wall, sweating and panting.   
He had been so utterly consumed with the idea of seeing his friends again that he hadn't stopped to consider how he would hide the evidence of his heinous summer. To begin with there was his appetite, or lack there of, then there was the fact that he had lost so much weight that he was scarily gaunt, and not to mention his numerous injuries.  
He heard the door slowly creak open, and he practically jumped. Remus' head was peeking through the door.  
"are you alright, it sounded as if you were sick in here." He then saw Sirius crumpled against the wall looking like the mess he was, and opened the door fully to come in. He looked at his friend horrified, and it was at that moment that Sirius realized he had taken off his shirt because he'd felt hot.   
Sirius quickly stumbled over to where he had tossed his shirt and threw it on. Remus remained frozen, and his eyes continued to stare uncomprehendingly at what he had just witnessed. Finally he snapped out of his daze and said.  
"you better have an explanation for what I just saw." He stared at Sirius expectantly and Sirius honestly didn't have a good answer.   
"Sorry, I just felt a bit sick and needed to throw up is all. I really have no idea why I got so sick though, I promise I wont touch your stuff if you're worried about catching whatever it is I have." He replied reassuringly.   
"First of all, bullshit, you aren't sick with anything you just aren't used to eating, and have malnutrition." Remus Said. Sirius stared at him fearfully, how had he known?   
"That much is evident from your appearance" Remus continued. "My question is why? Why are you suffering from malnutrition, and why do you seem to have so many injuries?" At this Remus walked over to Sirius and gripped his shoulder staring him right in the eyes. Almost as if he was daring Sirius to lie.   
"I could ask the same of you" Sirius said quietly. This caused Remus's eyes to go from concerned to confused. Sirius laughed mirthlessly noticing his opportunity to turn things around.  
"I've been living with you for a year Remmy, do. you think I haven't noticed the scars that litter your body, or that you disappear sometimes?" Remus's eyes were filled with fear now, and while Sirius knew this was a jerk move, he also knew that it was necessary.   
"yet never once have I dug into your secrets, now have I?" he continued "so, since you are in such a secret sharing mood why don't you start us off?" Sirius finished and glared at him.   
Remus' lips remained stubbornly closed as he glared at his friend. "That's what I thought" Sirius said, smirking triumphantly.   
"I was only trying to help, you know!" Remus huffed.  
At that Sirius looked him straight in the eye and, upon seeing another opportunity, asked "you really want to help?" Remus looked up at that and nodded his head furiously. " then come on" Sirius said leaving the bathroom not waiting to see if he was following or not.  
"Lumos" he whispered tiptoeing over to where James was fast asleep and started digging through his trunk, and pulling out the invisibility cloak.   
He then waved at Remus to follow him, who was still standing in the bathroom doorway looking at him questioningly. Then he exited the dorm and started walking down the stairs to the common room smiling when he heard a pair of soft footsteps following him down.  
When they reached the bottom Sirius checked to make sure the common room was empty, and in fact it was. He then Spun around to face Remus already anticipating his question.  
"what are you thinking?" Sirius whispered at the same time Remus did grinning while he scoffed at Sirius's annoying ability to read his mind.   
"I hate it when you do that" he grumbled, and Sirius smirked.   
"To answer your question Remmy, we are going to help ourselves to the contents of Madam Pomfrey's supplies cabinet." Sirius said and Remus looked at him slightly taken aback.  
"how will that help you?" And Sirius clucked his tongue at him.  
"not just me mate, both of us" Sirius said and at that Remus looked at him even more confused.   
"You see last time I checked we both have scars and scratches we want to hide." Sirius seeing him open his mouth to protest, continued quickly shutting him down "don't think I haven't noticed the excessive amounts you go to to hide some of your injuries, do you think I just missed the foundation on your arm today on the train?" Sirius noticed him gulp at that, and realized he may have gone too far.   
"Don't worry none of the other guys noticed it, they aren't nearly as observant as me." Sirius added in attempt to calm him down. Remus nodded, relieved, and visibly relaxed.   
"Now have you ever heard of essence of dittany?" Sirius asked him determined to keep them on track and Remus looked up nodding his head having finally understood where his friend was going with this.   
"That's actually........ really smart" Remus said surprised, and Sirius grinned in response   
"yah, it happens sometimes"   
After that they left the portrait hole, and headed down to the infirmary. Seeing as it was only the first night, the infirmary was empty and Madam Pomfrey wasn't there either. Remus used a simple Allohamora charm to open the cabinet, and they grabbed one of the bottles of what was needed, and some muggle cotton balls and went back to the dorm. The two boys didn't speak until the bathroom door was safely closed behind them.   
"That was rather uneventful" Remus commented and Sirius nodded in agreement. They then stared at each other awkwardly for a little while trying to figure out how they were gonna work this.   
Finally Remus sighed spoke up, "look I've already seen you without a shirt, and at this point you've already figured out enough that it won't make a difference if you see me without mine, so why don't we both just do this together." Sirius nodded in agreement.  
"plus there will probably be spots we can't reach ourselves and we'll need help" he added and Remus nodded.  
They both stripped down to their underwear(A/N don't get any weird ideas they are only twelve!) and took a minute to look at each other.   
Remus had scars everywhere, lots of them looked like claw marks, and there was one particular one on his abdomen that looked suspiciously like a bite mark. Thoughts ran through Sirius's head like 'what happened to him' 'I'm so sorry, you don't deserve this' and 'are you like me?'. Remus looked at him with pained eyes, the same thoughts clearly running across his mind.   
"Are you like me?" Sirius asked, and Remus shook his head clearly having already thought this through.   
"I don't believe so, your scars look like they are from something different. Normally I would say that I'm glad you're not like me, but for all I know you could have it far worse." He said sadly, and Sirius simply nodded his head to show that he felt the same, and cleared his throat.   
We should probably get started, yeah?" And with that the two boys got to work.  
They rubbed the potion all over every injury the two could find. Unfortunately they found that it only worked on things that were about a month or less old. Still it was better than nothing. Once they were finished, the two decided it would be better to keep the potion since they would both undoubtedly need it again. Then they both bid each other goodnight and tried to get what little sleep they could in the remainder of the night.


	11. The Whip of Dodona

"Get up you lazy bum!" Sirius said smacking James with one of his pillows for what felt like the millionth time.   
"Iz too earlyyyyyy" he slurred his face buried in a pillow.   
"It's seven forty-five you git, it's no where near early!" Sirius exclaimed.   
Dumb James, and his not needing to get up at five am every morning cause he didn't have dumb parents who wouldn't let him eat otherwise. He scoffed and walked away.  
"If you wanna be late then that's on you mate, but I'm going to get some food I'm starving." That was a lie he thought, in fact he still felt sick from eating last night, but he felt like staying in the dorm room for any longer would make him have a panic attack and he hadn't the slightest idea as to why.   
He had been so edgy around people after the end of last year, as if he had forgotten how to so much as interact with someone normally much less trust them. Simply being with people as much as he had yesterday was exhausting.   
He walked down the stairs and into the common room to see Peter with his back turned talking to Dorcas Meadows a fellow second year Gryffindor. Well looks like he finally grew a pair and is able to hold a conversation with a female. He thought smirking to himself.   
"Wotcher, Sirius" a female voice said pulling him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw Dorcas smiling at him and Peter had swung around to face him.   
"Hullo there Dorcas. Have a nice holiday?" He said walking up to his friends.   
"Yah, I stayed in Wales for most of it with my granmum. The countryside is absolutely gorgeous." She said smiling, and Sirius smiled too, glad to know that his friend had a nice summer.   
"What about you, how was your summer?" She asked, and his pleasant smile twitched almost imperceptibly, so imperceptibly that neither Dorcas nor Peter caught it.   
"It was fine, I stayed at home mostly." He said quickly hoping to change the subject, but before he could Dorcas cut in again.   
"Are you sure, you look so thin almost as if you didn't eat anything at all!" Her faces morphed into one of concern.   
Uh oh better come up with something quick he thought while already opening his mouth to speak not wanting it to seem as if he'd missed a beat.   
"oh well, my parents decided to make the whole family go vegetarian this summer. They caught wind of some hippie crap about it being healthier or whatever, and well you see, I don't like vegetables. So I barely ate anything over the summer, but I'll be fine now that im in a place with some actual food!" He exclaimed feigning excitement.   
"Well then why don't we go down to breakfast and get you some of that real food you seem so excited about." She said giggling. He mentally groaned, his stomach was still in knots from eating last night, he really didn't want to eat now he thought as he followed them out the portrait hole.   
They sat down at the table and dished out their breakfast. As soon as Sirius had finished the morning post flew in, and taking advantage of Dorcas' momentary distraction he quietly transferred half his breakfast onto Peter's plate who was sitting beside him. Peter gave him a questioning look and Sirius motioned for him to stay quiet.   
Sirius looked around at all the other students getting their first day letters with contents that all said something along the lines of 'miss you already, can't wait till you come home, and love you sweety.' He'd never received one of those letters.   
A barn owl swooped over to Peter and he put Knut in the pouch and took the paper from it. He unrolled it and started reading while Sirius leaned over to read over his shoulder. The front title said something about a whip being stolen from a museum. He rolled his eyes.  
"what's so special about some dumb whip that it made the front cover of the daily prophet?" He asked.   
"It's full of dark magic." Said Marlene McKinnon sitting down next to Dorcas and grabbing a piece of toast and starting to spread some jam on it.   
"The wounds inflicted by it can't be healed by magic." She said taking a bite out of her toast. " hey boys" she said acknowledging Sirius and Peter and the two of them said hey back.   
"That still doesn't explain how it made front cover, there are plenty of dark artifacts like that out there" Sirius said thinking about the set of knives distributed amongst his family that had similar properties to this whip.   
"Ooh, are we talking about the whip that was stolen? I read about it" said lily coming to sit next to Marlene along with Alice Fortescue.   
"Yeah, we were discussing it with the boys over here" Dorcas said gesturing to Peter and Sirius, and they waved at the two newcomers. Lily frowned at them but still greeted them somewhat pleasantly and Alice waved awkwardly and grinned.   
"Well anyways" Lily continued her explanation. "It has dark properties some of which include the inability of injuries caused by it to be healed with magic, the scars can't be healed either, it soaks up the blood of its victim and that helps power that spell that amplifies the pain of its victim." She said listing things off on her fingers.   
"Sounds like fun" Sirius muttered darkly, not meaning for anyone to hear but he saw lily give him an odd look before continuing.  
"the real reason it's on the front cover though, to answer your question, is that nobody knows how it was even taken. The only evidence of it being taken is the fact that it's gone. No tripped alarm, nothing on any wizard camera footage, and nothing broken. There is no sign of the perpetrator, it's almost as if it wasn't taken at all."   
Just then James plopped down next to him with an exhausted Remus in tow.   
"You two aren't morning people are you?" Said Marlene while she and Dorcas giggled.   
"Morning ladies" James mumbled in response as he piled food onto his plate.   
Just then Professor Mcgonagall came around with their time tables.   
"Ugh, we have double potions with the slytherins" James groaned.   
"What's wrong with that?" Lily snapped at him immediately going on the defensive.   
"Slughorn ALWAYS favors them especially compared to us Gryffindors." Peter groaned while the rest of the boys nodded in agreement.   
"I must agree with the boys on this one, if we mess up a bit he'll likely dock us house points whereas if a Slytherin messes up he'll just say better luck next time." Alice piped up.   
"I" lily paused as if trying to come up with a valid argument "actually can't argue with that" she finally said slumping her shoulders in defeat. With that we all laughed and headed off to potions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sirius was sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room while everyone else was at lunch. He knew his friends were worried about his eating habits, but he needed some time to get them back to normal. He couldn't just go from anorexic eating habits to normal ones over the span of twenty four hours. Last nights vomiting had proven that much, and besides he needed a break. Being around people so much was a bit overwhelming and quite frankly exhausting for him.   
It was odd, every time somebody moved quickly within the vicinity of him he flinched. This had caused many odd looks from James and Peter and a few concerned ones from Remus. God forbid what would happen if one of them touched him from behind when he wasn't expecting it.   
As he was sitting there quietly reveling in his solitude, an owl flew to the window and started pecking at it annoyingly. He rolled his eyes and got up walking towards the window knowing it wouldn't stop until he let it in. He froze once he reached the window. He recognized that owl, it was the Black family owl.   
He cautiously opened the window not knowing what to expect. The owl flew in and Sirius took the letter from its beak, and the owl bit him before flying off. Of course, he thought while sucking his bleeding index finger. The letter was in fact not a howler as he had suspected, but simply a normal letter. He tore it open, his curiosity getting the better of him, and it read

I presume that you have heard of the stolen whip of Dodana by now you ungrateful git. Well I thought it appropriate to let you know that, we have it in our possession. If your behavior does not improve by the time you return home at the end of the year, which I doubt it will. We look forward to introducing you to our new favorite toy. You better hope you die like you deserve by the end of the year you slimy piece of shit.

And that was all, no person it was addressed to and no one that it was apparently signed by. Sirius knew exactly who it was from though, he would recognize his father's handwriting anywhere. He strode over to the fire and with shaking hands tossed it into the fire. He took a deep breath and then started to make his way to care of magical creatures.


	12. Quidditch

"You ready mate" Sirius said grinning at James from over his broom handle.

"Yup, let's go kick some arse" he said returning Sirius' excited grin. And with that the boys walked out to the quidditch pitch.

It was seven am on a Saturday morning, and James and Sirius were trying out for positions on the quidditch team. James was going for seeker and Sirius for beater, and both were determined to get themselves a spot on the team.

They arrived on the pitch at about the same time that everyone else was filing in. Some were tired while others were full of energy eagerly awaiting the tryouts. 

"Alright everybody line up!" Barked a stocky looking boy with black hair, tanner skin, and a imperceptible spray of freckled dusting his cheekbones. Everyone lined up quickly and stared at him awaiting his next words.

"The name's Wood, Erik Wood, and i'm this year's Gryffindor quidditch captian. I'm in fifth year and I'm the starting keeper so anyone trying out for keeper know that you are trying out for second string, and if your ego is to big for that then leave." At that a seventh year girl left grumbling about how she wasn't going to waste her last year being second string.

"Alright, now that that is out of the way, here is how I plan on doing things. We need three chasers, two beaters, one seeker, and one keeper to play quidditch. All positions aside from starting keeper are up for grabs. Being on the team last year means nothing to me. I take the best regardless of age or gender or how well I know you or whatever else might be an unfair deciding factor. I also take one second string player for each position, and the same rules apply there. Does anyone have any questions before we begin?" He said and looked around. No one had any.  
"right then" he said clapping his hands together "everyone get in a group based on the position you are trying out for. Seekers to my left and continuing to my right in order are keepers, beaters, and chasers."

Sirius and James separated to go to their respective groups Sirius earning himself some odd looks at his position choice. There were four beaters including him, which meant he only need beat out one of them to secure a spot on the team. The only issue was that the other three boys were all considerably bigger than him.

No matter, he thought to himself. I've put on weight since school started. I might look weak but that's not true at all. I was highly functioning when I had no food and little sleep, and now here I am with ample sleep and food just imagine what I am capable of. I've been working at it too, he thought continuing his mental pep talk, I've been lifting in the dorms and James and I have been sneaking out to practice almost every night. Anyways even if they all beat me in strength, I have unwavering accuracy! And judging by how badly the boy next to me's hands are shaking I think I can at least beat him out on that. I need it more too, he thought angrily. These other boys only want the position for popularity or because they like the sport, but I need the training this position will bring. If I could just train enough and become strong enough maybe I could stand a chance against my parents! And with that last thought Sirius was pumped.

Sirius went out and performed amazingly as did James. His prediction was right about the boy with the shaking hands, his passes while not being horrible also weren't as accurate as Sirius' and Sirius despite his considerably smaller muscle mass managed to match the other boys passes in strength. The other two boys on the other hand were better than the two of them for sure. They were about equal to Sirius in accuracy, but they hit much harder as he had already expected.   
They were all trudging off the field when Wood called Sirius and James back. "Alright you two, now here is the deal. I'm planning on keeping you two as second string, but the starting seeker and one of the beaters are seventh years, and should you practice hard and continue to improve I can promise you both that you have a decent shot at starting next year." Sirius and James looked at each other excitedly, they had made it!   
"You are dismissed Potter, and don't tell anyone I told you two this, the list isn't supposed to be posted till tonight." James nodded quickly and set off back to the castle.   
"Here's the deal Black, I'm not gonna lie. I'm very tempted to keep that other kid instead of you due to the fact that he has considerably more muscle mass, but I'm true to my word, and you are definitely a better player than Salner is." He said "The issue is that you need to gain weight, and I don't mean fat I mean muscle and lots of it." Sirius nodded in agreement eagerly, this is exactly why he's here.

"Do you have any suggestions?" He asked.

"yes, actually, I can recommend a few protein potions to you and some exercises that will help you immensely, but you have to make sure to do everything I tell you, yeah?" Wood said and Sirius nodded in reply 

"alright then I'll have a list for you by end of day." He nodded curtly dismissing him, and Sirius turned around with the biggest grin ever dawning his features.

He rushed back to the castle and ran straight into James who was waiting for him in the entrance.   
"We made it!" James exclaimed practically squealing with excitement, and Sirius was practically bouncing off the walls with joy.

"I know mate, this is like one of the BEST things that's ever happened to me I'm so happy!!!" He replied, and they continued chattering excitedly until finally James asked

"what did he say to you after he dismissed me?"

"Oh, he mainly just told me that I needed to increase my muscle mass and he told me he'd have a list of stuff to help me by end of day." He replied excitedly.

Just then they reached the dorm and opened the door. The other two boys were already up, and looked at them expectantly. 

"Well, how'd you guys do?" Remus said while Peter literally vibrated in anticipation of their answer.

James and Sirius looked at each other identical grins taking over their features and they both screamed "WE MADE IT!!!!"

Remus smiled proudly and jumped up and down yelling "yes, I knew it"

Peter screamed "yes, Now Meadows owes me two galleons!"

"Just make sure not to tell anyone before the list is posted tonight, because us making it is supposed to be a secret." James added thoughtfully.

"Fine I'll just wait to collect from Dorcas" Peter grumbled. James and Sirius just laughed, and headed to the showers. After three hours of quidditch they both smelled awful.


	13. Prank Setup Gone Wrong

"Alright boys are we ready for plan Alpha Omega ninety three?" James said excitedly.   
It was the night before Halloween and they had a big prank planned that needed to be set up.   
"I'm pretty sure we didn't name it that" Peter said while Remus tactfully disguised his scoff as a cough.   
"Doesn't matter Pete, it's going to kick butt regardless!" James yelled not missing a beat. "Now let's go! it's two hours after curfew so it should be late enough." And he ran out  
Sirius followed excitedly getting ready for all the set up they would have to do. James had the cloak, and he had the pouch that we had paid a sixth year to put and undetectable extension charm that let the pouch never run out of space, which they were now using to carry our supplies in. They ran to the kitchens while the other three split up to set up different parts of the Prank.   
The general plan was to spike all the pumpkin juices, so when everyone drank it in the morning they would lose all sensibility. In the teachers drinks however we were putting some mild muggle made hallucinogens.   
Sirius had made sure to find a set that only lasted a few hours, and hallucinations were so normal that they likely wouldn't even realize they were doing it. For example with the right encouragement they could believe the were teaching a class full of children when in fact the classes were empty.   
James, Remus, and Peter were charming the hallways around the great hall to become obstacle courses as soon as breakfast was over. Have you ever seen a drunk person attempting to jump hurtles? Well trust it's pretty funny.  
Sirius was done and he was now charming random corridors and staircases to be like minor obstacle courses as he made his way to the meeting spot in the dungeons so they could finish our Prank with a little extra for the slytherins.   
"Hey y'all" he whispered sneaking up behind the three who were waiting for him, and he was met with nods and murmurs of greeting.   
"Are you guys ready. This last bit is difficult and will take all four of us. Our magic will likely be dried out till at least tomorrow morning, afterwards." Remus warned as they all got together preparing to turn the corridors around the entrance to the Slytherin common room into ice.   
Watching a horde of drunk Slytherins trying to make their way across ice to their common room was undoubtedly going to be funny. Of course none of these spells would actually be activated till breakfast let out. That was when the fun would begin. They also had video cameras set up everywhere and they were planning on showing some of the highlights at dinner the day after.   
By the time they had finished turning multiple corridors into a winter wonderland they were magically and physically exhausted. So much so that they weren't nearly as cautious as they should've been heading back to their common room.   
"Well, if it isn't the little blood traitor" said an icy cold voice from behind them.   
Sirius froze knowing exactly who it was, Bellatrix Black, his pure blood obsessed bitch of a cousin who was currently in her sixth year.   
"Shit" he muttered under his breath slowly turning around along with the other three. Double shit he thought noticing the prefects badge that adorned her robes.   
"Oh, and your friends are here too" she said sounding far more excited than she should've been to find students out in the corridors after curfew.   
"Oh boy, what shall it be? How many detentions would you like?" She purred sadistically thriving in their nervousness.   
Sirius could literally feel Remus shaking beside him. Remus was absolutely terror stricken at the idea of getting a detention. The two times he had gotten one last year induced full blown panic attacks. For some reason he believed that if he got in trouble he would get kicked out of school. Despite how often James had tried to convince him that his fear was irrational all Remus could do was tell James that he didn't understand, and while Sirius agreed that his fear on its own was irrational he knew that he likely had a rational reason that he simply wasn't telling anyone.   
Taking all that into consideration there was no way Sirius was just going to let Remus get a detention.   
"How about none." His voice rang out confidently across the corridors.   
"Now why would you think I'd agree to that?" She said smirking.  
"because you don't care about my friends you just want to make me miserable. That's not very prefect worthy behavior don't you think?" He said smirking back acting far more confident than he felt. She pretended to contemplate this for a little while then smiled.   
"I suppose you're right. I don't care about your friends, but it wouldn't be very prefect worthy behavior if I just let you go without punishment. Seeing as you ingrates ARE breaking the rules." She said "I'll make you an offer, option A is that you each get five detentions and option B is that your friends get off scotch free, but you must come with me for an hour and a half then you can go." She smiled sadistically. "Choose" she said in a sickly sweet innocent voice.   
Before any of his friends got the chance to say anything Sirius said "we chose option B" at which point he felt Remus turn to look at me shocked and James started to say.  
"we most certainly...." before Sirius clamped his hand over James' mouth and whispered in his ear.   
"Chill James, this is a family matter that I need to deal with, and besides can you imagine what FIVE detentions would do to poor Rems over here. The blokes terrified of detentions and you know it." James nodded slowly in agreement, but still didn't look to happy about it.   
"Fine, but you better come back alive or else I'll kill you!" He grumbled.   
"What no! You aren't seriously letting him go!" Remus objected. "What if she hurts him?" Remus muttered glancing at his cousin distrustfully.   
He was right of course, he almost always was, there wasn't a doubt in Sirius' mind that he was going to come back to the dorm tonight injured, but he wasn't going to let him know that.  
"Don't worry Remus I'll be fine, she'll likely yell at me, I promise." This was true, she would likely yell at him, along with hurting him of course.   
"Fine, but you better come back alive or I'll join James in killing her, and I doubt you want us becoming murderers."   
With that he left his friends and walked over to his cousin while his friends scurried off. Sirius was filled with relief that they had gotten off, but that was soon replaced with fear as Bellatrix's hand knotted into his hair and started dragging him down the hall once his friends were out of sight.   
"Cmon you little traitor, I'm ready to have some fun" she growled throwing him into an empty classroom shutting and locking the door behind her.   
"Silencio" she said to make sure no one would hear what happened in the room. Sirius quickly stood up from where she had thrown him to the ground and grabbed his wand out.   
"Stupe-" Sirius' lame attempt at stunning her was cut off by her "expelliarmus" and his wand was gone.   
"Now now you little brat, you weren't about to stun your dear cousin were you?" She pouted. He gulped knowing exactly what was coming.   
"Duelas" she said casually as if it was no big deal. Sirius was on the ground with invisible hands and feet kicking and punching him in the ribs.   
He couldn't breath, seeing as his breath had been knocked out of him with the first blow, and he hadn't been able to regain it. When the spell was taken off he laid on the ground attempting to regain his breath, which gave Bellatrix a chance to use a sticking charm on his hands and calves so he was stuck to the floor stomach up unable to move.   
She kneeled down next to him with a smile that was so sadistic it terrified Sirius to the point of nearly wetting himself. She ripped his shirt and put the tip of her wand on the inside of his forearm.  
"confringo" she purred tracing her wand in what felt like swirling patterns up his arm and across my chest leaving a trail of burnt flesh in its wake. Sirius screamed and cried and struggled all to no avail. In the breaks between his screams he could make out his cousin humming what sounded like a lullaby.   
She really was insane wasn't she? He thought and a whole new wave of pure terror engulfed him. What if she actually did kill him? He wouldn't put it past her at this point. She had stopped burning him by this time and he was panting with silent tears streaming down his face.   
"Now Sirius what were you doing hanging out with such impure people?" She asked quietly.   
"I was hanging out with my friends, and there is nothing wrong with being, as you say, impure." He responded. Sirius had definitely adopted the 'stupidly brave' trait that most Gryffindors exhibited.   
He saw her face run cold and she elbowed him in the stomach. Hard. Sirius groaned his back arching in pain.   
"Now I'll give you one more chance" she whispered calmly "will you stop associating with those impure brats?" And Sirius looked at her exhibiting a surprising amount of fortitude he never knew he had and said quietly but strongly.  
"never".  
He could see the anger rushing through her as she screamed "duelas" and the invisible hands and feet were punching and kicking his rib cage again.   
He felt one of his ribs literally snap with the force, and he cried out in pain. She took the the curse off and unstuck him from the ground, but it didn't matter. He was completely debilitated with pain at that point.   
She flipped him over roughly his rib smashing against the ground causing him to cry out in pain again. He saw her take out one of the knives from his families set of dark objects. Then he felt a searing pain across his back moving agonizingly slowly from the left side of his back to the right. She was writing something, he realized, nothing good no doubt.   
After what felt like an eternity of pain she finally finished whatever she was doing and got up.   
"You better keep this nice and quiet you little brat or else you'll regret ever being born." She said then slipped out the door leaving Sirius collapsed and broken on the floor.   
"I already do" he muttered.


	14. Healing and Lily Evans

It took Sirius another twenty minutes to make it back to his dorm, and he was not excited to enter it, already imagining the looks on his friends faces. His shirt hung off of him in rags and he was covered in blood and bruises, and just generally looked like shit.   
They probably aren't awake, he thought, in an attempt to comfort himself. It's pretty late, I bet they all fell asleep even if they did care enough to try and wait up for me. With that thought he opened the door and walked into the room.  
Three pairs of eyes turned towards him. Of course they were awake he thought sadly, and now they probably think I'm weak and dumb. He watched as their eyes searched his wrecked body all expressions morphing from curiosity to concern once their brains processed what they were seeing.   
Remus was the first to move coming over to him quickly. He placed a concerned hand on his shoulder and Sirius flinched deeply. Remus quickly removed his hand.   
"please, I can't deal with all three of you right now it's too much." He choked out, already having trouble breathing. He saw the pain on Remus face, but he also saw him nod in understanding.   
"Go into the washroom, you are at least going to let me clean you up." Sirius nodded and quickly limped into the washroom shutting the door quietly behind him.   
James finally rose from his stupor and went to enter the washroom after his friend. Remus quickly stepped in front of him blocking him from entering.   
"What the hell mate!? let me go make sure he's okay!" James hissed angrily, having the good sense to keep his voice down as to not set Sirius off.   
"James, you know as well as I do that Sirius doesn't do that well with people, especially when he's in this sort of state. I already got him to agree to let me help him clean up, but I think if there was more than one of us he'd probably start freaking out. I'll try and get what information I can out of him, and I'll tell you everything I find out I promise." Remus said quickly.   
"How about you and Peter go down and get him some mint chocolate chip ice cream from the kitchens. You know that's his favorite." James didn't look too happy with his role, but nodded none the less.  
Him and Peter were about to leave when Remus added "I want you two wearing the cloak the entire time. We don't need to get caught again" and they nodded grimly and left the dorm putting the cloak on. Remus then pushed open the bathroom with a grim expression mentally preparing himself to see the extent of his friends injuries.   
Sirius was standing in the center of the room staring at the wall next to the door, his eyes completely glazed over. Remus took in just how filthy he was. He was covered in sweat, blood, what looked like vomit, and tears.   
He walked over to the bathtub and started running the water adjusting the temperature so it was lukewarm and wouldn't hurt him as much. He left the tub to fill on its own and walked over to Sirius.   
"Hey" he said quietly shaking Sirius out of his stupor "we need to get you clean before I can start fixing you up" he said gesturing to the bath.  
Sirius nodded slightly and Remus helped him remove what was left of his shirt, and his pants till he was down to his boxers. Remus sucked in a breath takin him the damage. There appeared to be several large cuts on his back and he had burn marks and bruises covering his chest.   
"Crucified Christ Sirius this is awful." Remus muttered covering his mouth, and Sirius's shoulders slumped defeatedly.  
Remus helped him into the bath and Sirius attempted to clean himself off while Remus went back into the room to get him some new clothes. Remus walked back in to see him scrubbing at himself with silent tears running down his face from the pain.   
"Here let me help" he said taking the cloth from Sirius's shaking hand. He scrubbed away the grime as carefully as he possibly could, but still felt him flinch and grimace about every ten seconds.   
"You knew what you were getting yourself into when you agreed to this didn't you?" Remus asked quietly already knowing the answer. Sirius hesitated but eventually nodded.   
"Why did you do it then?" He asked and Sirius just shook his head. "James said you told him that you didn't want me to have a detention is that why?" He tried again and Sirius nodded after a few moments of silence. Remus didn't know how to respond.   
"Thank you" he said quietly, and Sirius simply nodded again "but just so you know I'd much rather get kicked out of school than have this happen to you again." And Sirius simply shrugged grimacing at the action.   
After he was done cleaning Sirius up he left while Sirius dried off and changed his underwear before coming back in to clean him up. Sirius's back was turned to him as he stared at himself in the mirror. He had burns in swirling patterns across his arms shoulders and chest, and his rib cage was already covered in newly forming bruises, and one of his ribs was poking out at an odd angle clearly broken. The worst was his back, the large cuts he had seen earlier now formed words scrawled across his shoulder blades. Blood traitor they read, and it hurt Remus somewhere deep inside his chest to see them.   
"What does it say?" Sirius asked, eyes meeting remus' through the mirror.   
"Blood traitor" Remus whispered after a moments hesitation just loud enough for Sirius to hear. A flash of pain went over his face before it was gone and he nodded.   
"I think I should heal your rib first." He said trying to get both their minds off of it to try and focus on making Sirius better. "I have to set the bone, and then I'll send James and Peter to steal some bone mending potion from Madam Pomfrey's storage room." He said and Sirius simply nodded   
"This will hurt" Remus warned. Sirius braced himself against the sink and Remus said the spell to set his rib.   
Sirius groaned in pain and slid to the floor. Remus kneeled down in front of him giving him a minute to catch his breath before helping him up again. He produced their shared bottle of essence of dittany and started rubbing it over some of the burns. Sirius stiffened clutching the edge of the counter his knuckles white clearly in pain. The potion wasn't supposed to hurt but judging by the severity of the burns Remus suspected that anything could make them hurt.  
He finished the burns all of them slowly fading into his skin and went to work on his back. Except the potion wasn't working, and his continual rubbing of the potion onto it made it start bleeding again.   
"It's not working" he said frustratedly.   
"Of course it's not it was made with a dark artifact." Sirius said nonchalantly.   
"What do you mean a dark artifact!" Remus exclaimed.   
"my cousin has one of the daggers that's part of a set that belongs to my family. It basically has most of the same properties as the whip of Dodana."   
"Well if I can't close these cuts magically then we're going to have to do this the muggle way." Remus said.   
"And what would the muggle way be?" He asked.  
"stitches" Remus replied sullenly "except I'm absolute rubbish at it, so unless you want to go see madam pomfrey then I'm going to have to get someone else to do it."   
"First off, what are stitches, and secondly who else would do it cause I certainly am not going to madam pomfrey." Sirius replied cautiously.  
"stitches are essentially when you have your skin sewed together, it's a muggle thing" he added at Sirius's look of confusion "and most likely Lily Evans because I know she has the supplies, and she has performed stitches on Marlene before."  
Sirius looked at him skeptically "lily hates me and I don't trust her." Sirius said quickly.   
"Lily Evans is my best female friend, and I promise you that she doesn't hate you, and that she is in fact trustworthy." Remus said assuringly, and Sirius finally agreed to letting her help.   
"Alright I'm going to go get her, you put some pants on and stay here." Remus said and left the bathroom.  
Next came the problem of getting up to the girls dorms. Luckily he had already figured out that it wouldn't matter if the stairs turned into a slide if he was flying up there so he grabbed Sirius's broom and headed down to the common room where the girls dorm's staircase was. On his way down he ran into James and Peter and instructed them to put the ice cream on Sirius's bed and to go steal some bone mending potion from Madam Pomfrey.   
Remus flew up the staircase to the fifth year girls dorms bumping into the wall a few times on his way. He knocked on the door and was met by a bleary eyed Dorcas Meadows.   
"Remus?" She questioned groggily.   
"Does Lily sleep naked?" He asked quickly not wanting to waste any time.  
"What? No!" Dorcas answered shocked.   
"Good" Remus said and brushed past her looking around till he found where the red head was currently asleep.   
"Lily, wake up" he said softly shaking her. She turned over onto her back and opened her eyes looking at him blearily. Once she realized who had waken here she sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.   
"Remus? What are you doing she said.   
"Shhhhhh, don't wake the others. I need your help really badly, but I need you to keep it a secret." He said   
"yah, of course, what do you need?" She asked now fully awake.   
"Do you remember last year when you told me that you went to a first aid class and learned how to give people stitches, and that you take first aid supplies when you come to Hogwarts?" He asked.  
"yes" she replied quickly not knowing where this was going.   
"Do you still?" He questioned urgently.  
"of course, but Remus-" her answer was cut off by Remus.  
"meet me down in the common room and bring the stuff, I'll explain there." And he left.  
A minute later Lily stumbled into the common room toting a large bag with a Red Cross on the front.   
"Are you alright Remus?" She asked concern masking her features.   
"Of course." He said.  
"then why-" before She could finish Remus cut her off yet again.   
"What I'm about to tell you, you cannot under ANY circumstance repeat to ANYONE EVER. Do you understand?" And she nodded still confused.   
"The four of us were out setting up a big Prank when a certain upperclassmen found us. This upperclassmen had a particular bone to pick with Sirius and promised him that they would leave the rest of us alone if he went with them. And because Sirius is the stupidly brave, die for his friends, kind of dumbarse that he is he of course agreed despite our protests. Keep in mind that had we known that Sirius was going to deal with anything aside from verbal abuse we never would've let him go. He's in a right state right now, and some of his injuries can't be healed with magic so I need you to help me and give him some stitches. Can you do that for me please?" He was breathless at this point and practically begging Lily for her help.   
Her eyes were as wide as sauce pans and she nodded.  
"alright and one last thing" Remus added "Sirius has major trust issues, literally letting ME in to try and help fix him almost sends him on the verge of panic, having multiple people in there especially if they are asking questions will likely send him into a full blown panic attack, so please, be tactful." He said his eyes never leaving her's and she nodded quickly to show she understood.   
Remus lead her up the stairs and into the boys dorm. "Where are James and Peter?" She asked eyeing the four empty beds.   
"Stealing some bone mending potion from Madam Pomfrey" he said.   
"Bone mending? How bad is he?" She exclaimed.   
"pretty bad" he replied sullenly "but I already set his rib, we just need the potion to finish the process. He lead her over to the door, and before opening it added "remember, be tactful." And Lily nodded showing she understood, and with that he led her into the bathroom.   
"Sirius, Lily is here to help you." Remus said quietly, and she stepped out from behind him holding her first aid kit.   
She took in the sight of him standing there facing them with his arms wrapped around himself in a half-hearted attempt to hide the bruises forming all over his chest. Not to mention all the other scars that were there from who knows what. It physically pained Lily to see him in so much pain.   
Remus moved to go sit on the edge of the bath tub to try and give them some more space. Lily approached Sirius slowly seeing the wariness in his eyes as she did so.   
"Remus tells me you need stitches, can you show me where?" She said softly trying not to scare him. After a moments hesitation he nodded slowly and turned around.   
She was shocked with what she saw, and had to bite her fist to keep herself from gasping audibly. The words blood traitor were scrawled across his back bleeding a tiny bit. She bit back another gasp and started thinking about how best to heal him.   
"Im going to need you to lie down to do this, but I don't want you to lie down on the bathroom floor. It might get infected, and I doubt it'd be very comfortable anyways. Would you mind if I had you lie down on your bed and we did this." She said, it wasn't really a question even if it was frazed as one, and Sirius knew this.   
He moved quietly out of the room seeing the ice cream on his bed side table and smiling at his friends thoughtfulness and layed down on top of his made bed. He felt the mattress sink down slightly and knew Lily was sitting beside him.   
"Remus, I need as much light as possible" Lily said and Sirius heard him hum in response and saw lights turning on until the room was blindingly bright. He hear Lily opening her pack of muggle medical supplies.   
"I'm going to pour some hydrogen peroxide in your cuts, it's going to hurt but it will clean them out and make sure they won't get infected." She warned and he simply nodded in response.   
She poured some of the chemical onto his back and it fizzed a bit, while some sort of a mix between a whine and a groan escaped Sirius.   
"Alright now I'm going to spread a paste over your back that will help numb your back while I stitch you up." She said and he nodded again and felt her hand rubbing his back softly as she applied the paste.   
Once she was done he heard her rustling around in her box of supplies, and finally she said "alright I'm going to start the stitches. The paste will only reduce the pain by about fifty percent so Remus I want you to come over here and let Sirius squeeze your hand to help him cope with the pain"   
He suddenly felt Remus's presence beside him and felt him take his hand. And with his head resting in the crook of one arm and Remus holding his other hand Lily Evans began to sew his back together. If you had ever told him before this year began that this was where he'd end up he would've laughed.   
To be completely honest getting stitches fucking hurt, and he was pretty sure that he was going to break Remus's hand at some point from squeezing it so hard. Lily proved to actually have some promise as a healer and having her here seeing him and helping him didn't send him into a fit of anxiety like having most people in that position would. She murmured soft indiscernible things that oddly enough calmed him down.   
All was going smoothly until halfway through his stitches James and Peter came back with the bone mending potion. It wasn't as if they meant to set him off. In fact they made a point to enter the room so quietly that none of the three even heard them until a very surprised James half yelled half shrieked.  
"lily?! What are you doing here? You can't be here!"   
The loud sudden noise scared lily causing her to accidentally stab Sirius' back with the needle, and this combined with James's sudden outburst and seeming panic, and the feeling of being surrounded and seen by too many people sent him into a state of panic. He started shaking like violently and he couldn't breath right making him panic even more.   
"Shit, James you freaked him out." Remus said rushing over to them to try to push them back out the door.   
"No, Remus let me calm him down this time. I fucked up and now I'm going to help my best friend." James said quietly barely audible. Remus nodded and left the room with Peter in tow.   
"Excuse me Lily, I'm sorry for startling you, but could give us some space please?" James said, and she was so surprised by his matureness that she couldn't even reply, but simply got up and stood by the door. Knowing she couldn't leave because she needed to finish Sirius's stitches the second he calmed down enough for her to do so.   
"Hey mate, I'm sorry for startling you." James said in such a quiet gentle voice that it shocked Lily. She honestly didn't think he was capable of such feats. He gently took Sirius' hand and started rubbing circles on the back of it with his thumb while muttering soft words trying to help him focus on the feelings around him. Lily had heard of this technique, it was called grounding, but what shocked her was that James not only knew it, but was successfully using it.  
After Sirius had calmed down enough James waved Lily back over. "Alright Lily needs to finish your stitches. Is that all right?" He asked softly and Sirius nodded in response still in the same position as last time.   
"Alright I want you to squeeze James's hand to help with the pain. Just like you did with Remus." She murmured to him and he nodded again.   
Lily continued with his stitches and had finished within the next twenty minutes. She then stood him up and taught James how to help Sirius bandage himself and gave him instructions on how to help heal the wounds and keep them clean.   
"I'll be back once a week to check on them until it's time to take them off." She said then turned to Sirius and said,  
"Any time you need help and don't want to ask these clowns for help feel free to ask me, I promise I will never turn you away if you really need help." She said.   
"Thank you Lily, you are very good at this, and I appreciate your offer and all the help you've given me" Sirius said and bowed slightly in reply. All his formal training with his family had taught him that a thank you and bow like he had just done were the utmost sign of sincerity and respect, but it seemed to confuse Lily.   
Lily left the dorm and let Remus and Peter back in.   
"Are you alright" Peter asked cautiously not wanting to set him off again.   
Sirius appreciated this and nodded saying "I'm fine Pete I'll just need some recovery time. The staircases moved and I fell down three flights." He said.  
"I know you are lying, but it's okay I trust that you have a reason for doing so, and you have enough people on your back about it. You don't need me to be too." Peter nodded at him. "I'm going to bed.   
Sirius had never appreciated Peter more than in that moment because as much as he knew that Peter wanted to know and wanted to help him, he also knew that he would be hurting and stressing him out by doing so. James saw the relief that flooded Sirius's face at Peters actions and decided to follow suit.   
Remus helped him over to his bed and had him sit down and drink some of the bone mending potion. After that he helped him under the covers and was turning to leave when Remus felt Sirius grab his wrist.   
"I-I don't want to be alone tonight." He said when Remus looked down at him, and was surprised to see that he looked embarrassed.   
They had been sharing a bed since last year when they'd both had nightmares and started sleeping together to help each other sleep.   
"Neither do I" Remus replied not wanting Sirius to feel as if he was a burden even though he never would be. "Just let me turn out the lights." And Sirius nodded relief evident on his face   
Remus slid into bed next to  
Sirius and they helped each other face the short remainder of what had been a traumatic night.


	15. A Jily Moment

When the four boys woke in the morning they were all practically buzzing with excitement. It was Friday, and they were about to score themselves a day without school and a source of entertainment.   
They each split up going to their own predesignated corridor with their camera. James on the other hand went to find a certain red head before going to his perch outside the doors of the great hall. He saw her walking down the stairs of the girls dormitory with the other girls, and went over to greet her.   
"May I please escort you to breakfast, Evans?" He asked.   
While normally this would have been met with an immediate no, Lily knew that this was more than just a simple question and that it had nothing to do with needing an escort to breakfast.   
"Sure" she said to the shock of the rest of the girls. "See you later ladies" she added and walked out the portrait hole with James, who then proceeded to lead her in the opposite direction of the great hall.  
"Where are we going?" Lily asked after a minute of contemplative silence, her curiosity finally winning out.   
"What's your favorite breakfast food?" James replied, not answering her question much to Lily's frustration.   
"Bagel with cream cheese, but what has that got to do with anything? I thought we were going to talk about last night." Lily answered her bewilderment growing.   
"We are" James said turning around another corner and stopping abruptly making Lily run into him "but first, we must make sure you do not starve." James finished waving his arms in what he presumed to be an extravagant gesture and then proceeded to tickle the pear, much to Lily's confusion.  
The pear giggled making Lily's red eyebrows shoot up so they were almost hidden by her bangs. And then the portrait swung open to reveal a room that was almost an exact copy of the great hall except that instead of being full of students, it was full of house elves.   
The second they stepped in the pair was berated with questions of how they could be served. James smiled kindly and asked them for two bagels with cream cheese. Lily had only just recovered from her shock when they came back with their food.   
"Thank you Fillis " James said taking it from the elf, and Lily echoed him still a bit confused.  
Lily continued to question him until they reached an empty broom closet near the entrance to the great hall. At which point she only stopped because James opened the closet and pulled out a broom, and not just any broom but a flying broom.   
"Hop on" he said, and after a moments hesitation she did. "Hold on" he said, but before she could do so they were already airborne. At which point she yelped and grabbed onto James' waist, earning a chuckle from him.  
They landed atop a stone piller about 25 meters high (82 ft for any Americans reading this) where they could see the entrance to the hall, but it was unlikely that anyone would look up and see them.   
"Alright give me a minute to set something up before we talk, ok?" James said and Lily nodded in response and watch as he muttered what seemed to be a very long and complex incantation. She glanced down at the ground and saw things appearing to make what looked like a muggle obstacle course.   
He finished releasing a breath, and looking considerably paler than he had before. He slumped down next to her and pulled out a wizarding camera from his bag, and setting it up aiming it at the obstacles below.   
"What is that for?" Lily asked pointing at the scene below  
"That, Lily, is why we were out late last night. It's one of our pranks, and one of the reasons we didn't go to the great hall to get breakfast." James replied matter of factly.   
Lily, was confused to say the least, but as she had learned with the boys and their pranks, it's better to wait and see what happens than to ask.   
That wasn't why she was here though she reminded herself. She was here for answers.   
"Sooooooo" she began awkwardly not exactly knowing how best to approach the topic "about last night....."  
James shifted to face her wearing an expression so serious it shocked her into silence. Lily didn't think it was possible for any twelve year old boy to look so serious much less James Potter.   
"Before we talk about last night we need to square some things away first." He said, to which Lily nodded, not exactly knowing how to respond to an adult like James.   
"The first thing you must understand is that nothing and I mean NOTHING about this ever leaves your lips." She hesitated but nodded "Now I know what you think of us and I know you think we are childish and immature and most of the time you're right, but there are some things, dark hidden things, that make us much older than twelve year olds. The thing with Sirius is one of those things." She nodded again the gears in her brain working quickly to try and find out where he was going with this.   
"With that being said, when I say keep your mouth shut, you need to understand that I would not be asking you to bear the weight of such a secret unless the consequences of this getting out were VERY bad. There are people who could get killed, Sirius being one of them, and what you saw last night was only a glimpse of that secret." He paused taking a deep breath "and don't expect me to answer all your questions. I likely won't be able to anyways."   
Only a glimpse? She thought horrified. Her original presumption of this just being a severe case of bullying flew out the window. What James was saying made it seem much bigger than what happened inside the walls of Hogwarts, and that was a rather scary thing to think about.   
"So before I let you start asking questions, what do you already know?" James asked.  
"I know that at like one a.m. Remus somehow got into my dorm and asked me to perform stitches. I know that once I agreed to help that I was sworn to absolute secrecy and only then did I find out that it was none other than Sirius Black who needed them. I know that you were caught setting up for a prank by some older student who I'd presume is a prefect. I know that for whatever reason this person didn't like Sirius and took the opportunity to cut a deal. My understanding of this deal is that this person took Sirius and in return the rest of you left and remained unpunished?" She said looking at him for confirmation.  
He nodded and she continued "I know that he somehow got back to you and had a broken rib and the cuts across his back among other injuries that I don't know about. I know that Sirius has loads more scars and is far to thin for a boy our age. And I know that if Remus could set his rib with magic then he should have very easily been able to heal those cuts too. Since he wasn't I'm going to presume that they were caused by some sort of dark magic. I'm also going to presume by the word choice of this offender that they were Slytherin. I'm also going to take a guess that the offender was Bellatrix Black seeing as she is both a slytherin prefect and is related to Sirius." She glanced up at James' startled face having finished her speech. "So am I right?  
James looked like a deer in headlights (pun totally intended) "yeah, yeah, wow bloody hell I forgot how smart you are" he said "so, uh what questions do you have?"  
"Why did you take the deal? I mean surely the Prank couldn't have been that important." She asked  
"The prank wasn't that important, and we didn't even want him to go to be honest." James explained "You see Remus is absolutely petrified of getting a detention, like has panic attacks at the idea of it, petrified, so the boys and I have a rule that we do everything we can to make sure he never gets a detention." He said sighing.  
"Now Sirius assured us that the most she could do was yell at him, but I should've known better after the condition he came back in after summer. We shouldn't have let him go, and that's our mistake." He said shoulders slumping.   
Lily nodded her head in understanding, frowning. "This isn't just Bellatrix, it's his family too isn't it?" She asked warily, to which James sighed an answered.  
"you know I can't answer that Lily, and you have to know that you cannot act on on your assumptions wether or not it's true."   
"Why not! We could help him"  
"His family is very powerful and very influential. If you were to act on your assumptions you could very well get him killed."   
The more and more she talked to James, the more and more Lily started to realize just how bad things were, and it killed her. "So is there anything I can do to help?"   
"I mean not really" he said running a hand through his hair "you can help with the stitches and stuff since the rest of us are rubbish at them, but aside from that just be a good friend I guess. Remus and Sirius tend to stick together with this kind of stuff. The two of them could open a vault at gringotts for all their secrets they have so many" he added the last part exasperatedly.  
Lily nodded but before she could respond a kid staggered out of the great hall into the obstacle course. "What the..?" She started but was interrupted by James laughing as the student ran smack into a wall that had just popped up.  
"Why can't he walk straight?" She asked concerned that he had gotten a concussion from the wall.  
"He's drunk!" James shouted gleefully. At which point Lily looked over at him as if he were insane, which he probably was.   
"Drunk?" She asked tentatively   
"Yup." He replied through his chuckles.  
More students poured out, and found themselves stumbling through an obstacle course. As much as Lily's responsible side told her that this was wrong, it was also very entertaining. Plus she thought gleefully, she couldn't get off the pillar anyways, and so she found herself laughing along with James at the chaos below.  
Once most everyone made it out of the maze Lily asked "what about the teachers, how is everyone going to learn like this."   
"The teachers are currently teaching their classes unaware that they are empty." He said smirking "thank goodness that the wizarding world joined in on the muggle hippi era and came up with lots of fun drugs.   
Lily hit James nearly shoving him off the pillar. "YOU DRUGGED THE TEACHERS?!" She shrieked.   
"Woah, chill, we did our research they are super safe and they will never even know. It's pretty brilliant actually if I do say so my self" James replied smiling proudly.   
Lily rolled her eyes and groaned "I cannot believe you guys. If you get caught you are dead! I mean you drugged the teachers you could get expelled for that." She yelled.  
"That's what Remus Said, but he knew we would do it anyways so he found the safest possible drug that would also assure that no teachers ever found out what happened." He said still grinning much to Lily's frustration.  
"Ok, nope, I am not associating with you today." Lily said nose straight in the air putting her good girl personality back on. "I'm so not getting caught as an accessory to this prank. Get me down please."  
James just laughed and obliged picking up the camera and trash from their breakfast hopping on the broom and gesturing for her to do the same. She did and made sure to grab onto his waist before they took off.  
Once they hit the ground Lily was off only turning around to say "ill be back next Thursday to check up on the stitches. Come get me if something happens ok?" And James nodded in response waving at her. She turned on her heel and ran off to find the rest of the girls.


	16. A Pre-cursor to a Memorable Christmas

Dear Sirius,

I really wish you and Remus could've come home with me this Christmas, I mean imagine all the holiday madness we could've caused had we been together! I'm gonna use this time to try and convince them to let you come and stay for Easter break though. Anyway, how have you and Remus been holding up without yours truly, I bet it's been absolutely dreadful! I bet you two are completely useless without me, your fearless leader. So far this break I've caused the pudding to explode twice, caused my father to grow hair out of his nose, and I put a squirrel in our Christmas tree practically giving my mum a heart attack! What have you two done since I've been gone? Write back soon!

Sincerely, James (Your fearless leader(: )

 

Dear James,

'Our fearless leader' my arse! You wish! If anything Remus is the ringleader, Lord knows he's the real mastermind behind our pranks. We've only done a few minor ones, because Remus is worried that with you and Pete back home the teachers will suspect him for the true mastermind. I told him that was rubbish, but you know how he is about getting in trouble. Things are great here, not as chaotic and exciting, its calm with an air of peaceful happiness. (sorry, my classical training and diction sorta just came out). Remus and I have been chilling out mainly, but we had a pretty wicked snowball fight with some hufflepuffs. You wouldn't guess it with how small he is, but he can throw! He seems to be feeling a bit under the weather though, maybe the cold is getting to him. At any rate I miss you Jamesiepoo, hope you come back to me soon!

Sincerely, Sirius Black (the coolest)

Sirius had to admit, it was a pretty lame letter, but he was exhausted after a long day of playing in the snow, and enjoying the Christmas eve feast with the few other kids who had stayed at school. He sighed and gave the letter to James's owl Hornet who was waiting patiently for his response. As soon as the letter was fastened to to her leg she took off out of the owlery back to the Potter Manor in Wales. He got up heading to meet Remus in the kitchens who was supposed to be getting tea for the two of them before they went to bed.

He was so lost in his sleepy head that he walked right by the portrait that hid the kitchens, and he wouldn't have noticed it had Remus not called out to him.   
"Hey!" a voice called out behind him "Hey, wait up would you." at which Sirius turned around wondering who was calling to him only to see Remus walking as fast as he could without spilling the two cups of tea he was holding.

"Oh, hey, weren't we supposed to meet at the kitchens?' Sirius asked confused

"Yah, we were but you walked right by me where I was waiting for you" Remus said laughing at Sirius's confused expression. "You're really out of it. Are you feeling well?" Remus asked looking him over to make sure he wasn't bleeding through his shirt or anything like that.

"No, i'm fine, just really full and really tired" he said and as if on cue he yawned, causing Remus to yawn back in response.

"well good thing we are going to bed then, you want to be well rested so we can wake up early to open up presents tomorrow!" Remus said excitedly. He was usually a very solemn boy, but the idea of chocolate, books, sweaters, and whatever creative thing Sirius came up with this year to give him excited him greatly.

Sirius smiled at the thought of how happy his mate would be tomorrow, and hoped he gave him a good present this year. Most people would think from his aristocratic upbringing that Sirius would enjoy receiving presents more than giving them, but in reality it was quite the opposite. Due to his upbringing only the most plain and practical gifts were given, so the idea of being able to be creative and make or find just the right thing for everyone excited him.

"Thestral tail" Remus said to the fat lady, yet again shaking Sirius out of his thoughts.   
The two boys climbed the stairs in silence while sipping their tea. Once they got to the dorm they changed into their bedclothes. One of the plus sides of them being the only two in the dorm was that they had already seen each other's scars and therefore nothing to hide. There was no getting up extra early for a shower, or having to wear extra layers. Not that they didn't trust the others, but it was easier to not deal with the questions and concern.

Sirius collapsed into bed, his head barely hitting the pillow before he was fast asleep. Remus laughed at his friend, and tuned off the light and got into his own bed. He nodded off soon after dreaming of tomorrow.

 

"Merry Christmas Sirius!" Regulus said jumping on his bed. Sirius groaned opening his eyes to see his brother's smiling head above him.

"Reg? What are you doing at Hogwarts, I thought you went home to celebrate with mum and dad." Sirius said sitting up and wiping sleep out of his eyes.

"We aren't at Hogwarts, we are home" Reg paused looking at him questioningly, but his face soon cleared and went back to it's jovial expression. "Never mind that, I went down and peaked and we have LOADS of presents" he said his arms waving to express just how much 'loads' was.

Sirius, still confused, followed his brother down the stairs and into the parlor. He was met with a sight that he thought he might never see again. his parents were sitting side by side on one of the lounges, regal and commanding as always, but something about them was different. They didn't look at him with disgust or hatred anymore, it was like old times before he went to Hogwarts.

"Now Son, we have come to terms with the fact that you were sorted into Gryffindor. We have decided that although you have made some mistakes, that you are still our son and heir, and we have chosen to accept you." Orion Black stated in his usual business like manner.

"Now go on with your brother and open your presents, once you are through those your father and I have a surprise for you" Walburga said in her usual strict voice.

Sirius didn't have to be told twice. The elation of having his family accept him overriding the sense that something didn't seem right about the situation. All in all this Christmas was a pretty good haul, he got lots of sweets, a pair of dress robes, some magical knickknacks, as well as a few other assorted items. Most of all though, he had enjoyed spending his Christmas in the presence of a family who didn't hate him for who he was.

"Alright Son it's time for the surprise" his Father said an unsettling grin spreading across his parents faces. In a second the feeling of unease began to grow again in the pit of Sirius's stomach. "Bring them out kreacher" his Father barked, and the house elf came out with two people being dragged behind him.

It wasn't just any two people Sirius realized horror washing over him, but Lily and Peter. They looked awful, both seemed to be paler and thinner than when he had last seen them, and both looked horribly beat up. Peter seemed to have lost consciousness, but Sirius could still see him breathing thankfully. Lily on the other hand was awake and seemed to be struggling against invisible bonds that were both restricting her movements and her voice. Her eyes met Sirius's unfreezing him from his spot.

"What are you doing?" he asked his father, panic rising in his voice.

"Why son, we are helping you" his Mother said smiling sadistically at him. "when we heard you had to share a room or your classes with these two mudbloods, we felt awfully. No esteemed pureblood such as yourself should have to associate with these creatures. So consider this our Christmas gift to you"

That being said she spun on her heal and pointed her wand straight at Pete. "Avada Kedavra" she said, and the room was bathed in green light.

When his vision cleared again Peter was no longer breathing. "Pete?" Sirius said quietly a sob escaping him tears slipping down his cheeks.

Sirius looked up in time to see his Father raising his wand to Lily who was struggling against her bonds with renewed vigor. He screamed and jumped in front of her as the words left his father's lips. His last thought being, not again, not my friend. 

 

 

 

Sirius woke up with a start, gasping to try and regain his breath. He was tangled up in his bedclothes and was sweating like a pig. "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, Oh God" he muttered to himself rocking back and forth trying to calm himself down. It was about one AM, and normally he would've just crawled into Remus's bed and slept with him, but he had the overwhelming need to get out for some reason. Get out of what, he didn't know, but as of now he would settle for getting out of the dorm.

He grabbed one of Remus's jumpers to wear, and slipped out of the dorm and tiptoed down the stairs and into the common room. It was so quiet that the small sniffling was noticeable immediately. He looked over at the floor near the fireplace to see none other than Lily Evans curled up in her pajamas with a piece of paper dangling limply from her hand, and upon further inspection seemed to be crying.

"Hey" he whispered plopping down next to her.   
"Oh, Uh,Hey Sirius" she said turning her face away and scrubbing furiously at it trying to erase any evidence of her tears "Fancy seeing you here" she said letting out a watery laugh, but it was one AM and Sirius was having none of this shit.

"Lily, you stitched me up after I had a racial slur carved into my back by my cousin." Sirius said sighing "you can show me your tears, we've exceeded that level of trust."

Lily was not looking too great, her face was red and puffy, and her eyes were bloodshot and watery. "I suppose you are right" she said her voice scratching and breaking from all the crying.

"Now are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

"It's nothing" she said and he looked at her disbelievingly "Really it is, its just something my sister said in her letter is all. Don't worry about me" she exclaimed.

"I'll believe that when I see it" he said gesturing for her to give him the letter, but she seemed awfully hesitant at letting him read it. "Lily, I promise you that I am one of the last people at this school to treat family matters indelicately." he said. She nodded and handed it to him still not ecstatic at him reading her mail.

Dear Lily,

I cannot believe you and your freakish ways! Do you have any idea what you've done. You are the worst sister God could've possibly given me. I cannot believe I was cursed with you and your devils powers. Your owl swooped down and tried to give me your letter while my friend was over, so now she thinks I'm some sort of freak like you. I am NOTHING like you and your crazy people, but people will keep thinking that I'm like your lot if I keep associating with you. So from now on stay on your side of the creek, got it? I will have nothing to do with you, and in fact don't even think of us as sisters because you're no sister of mine.

From, Petunia Evans

 

Sirius read it through twice to make sure he understood what was going on, and he was silent for a while after that. After a few minutes of deafening silence Sirius suddenly threw the letter into the fire.  
"fuck her" he said viciously "You are not a freak, you are the smartest and kindest girl I know who clearly goes very under appreciated."

"She's my sister though, she's family" she said quietly

"No, she is not, family does not treat each other like that." He said gesturing at the burning paper in the fireplace.

"Well I didn't exactly get much of a choice now did I? she's my blood." she said laughing bitterly

"Blood does not equate to family, just as it doesn't decide your status or aptitude for wizardry." he said glaring at the burning letter "You work for wizardry and position, and you work towards creating your own family. Some people were born with them right along side them, but people like us, we have to find them." he said shrugging, and as if remembering something else added "And if you ever get another letter like that or any that upset you, I want you to come to me, OK? I spent my summer completely isolated from everyone, and I know how much harder everything gets when you feel alone."

After a moment she nodded slowly and eyeing him cautiously and said "Same goes to you, if you get any bad letters, come find me alright" While normally he would've declined such an offer, Lily's piercing green eyes left no room for argument.

Not wanting to break the silence he simply nodded, and Lily rested her head against his shoulder. After a few minutes of silence Lily asked "So who's your family?"

"Huh?"

"You know, your family, the one you made." she whispered, reminiscing on heir previous conversation.

"The boys, you know James, Peter, and Remus." he said smiling a bit at the thought of his friends. "You wouldn't really think that they'd make a good family, but I couldn't have asked for better. We love and trust each other, and whatever happens or whatever we do we will always be there for each other. And that, Lily, is more than I though I could ever deserve much less have." he said his smile softening.

"I believe you, I remember how they all were that night I gave you stitches." she said sighing. "it sounds awfully nice, I wish I had something like that. As much as the girls are nice and fun, we just aren't that close."

"Well than you can come join my family!" Sirius said straightening up. "I'm more than happy to share, and the lads love you!"

Lily straightened up as well saying "Are you sure, I mean I don't want to intrude or anything"

"Rubbish!" he said shooting up to his feet "now go and grab your presents, whats left of this family is going to celebrate Christmas together."

With that Lily stood up as well grinning at the idea of Christmas and a family, and bounded up the stairs to her dorm. A minute later she reappeared with a small collection of gifts floating behind her.


	17. The Lupin-Black-Evans Family Christmas

"Alright, now let's go wake Remus and tell him it's Christmas." Sirius said and the two of them clambered up the stairs to the boys dorm. Once they were inside the dorm they started jumping on Remus's bed.

"What's going on, did I oversleep? Oh pleases tell me I didn't sleep through Transfiguration!" Remus shouted, shooting up out of bed making Lily and Sirius laugh.

"Don't be ridiculous Remus, It's CHRISTMAS!" Lily shouted waving her arms making his eyes widen in realization.

"Lily is gonna come celebrate with us, I told her we are inducting her into our family." Sirius stated his smile slightly wavering "That's good with you, right?"

"Of course, Lily knows she's already like my sister. Now let's stop dilly dallying and open our Presents!" Remus said eyeing the pile of presents at the end of the bed. "Now Lily, the only rule we ever have is to open Sirius's present last because his are usually the best." Lily just nodded in response also eyeing her pile of presents.

"Now may the Lupin-Black-Evans first family Christmas begin!" Sirius shouted and they all dove into their respective piles of presents. After a half hour of opening presents Sirius was left with sweets from Regulus and Peter, a new beater's bat from James, a pouch of spending money from Andromeda (his only good cousin, even though she was in Slytherin), and a pair of old hand mirrors from his estranged uncle Alfred who still made contact with him every once in a while.

When the three of them all finished with their presents, they all sat down on Remus's bed to exchanged their gifts to each other. Remus went first, he handed both Lily and Sirius their gifts. Sirius received two sweaters.

"Since you always steal mine, I figured I'd get you some of your own" Remus explained sheepishly.

Sirius grinned widely throwing one on, and giving Remus a big hug. "Thanks Remus, its so comfy!" Remus laughed as he pushed Sirius off him.

"Alright, it's your turn" Remus said to Lily. She ripped open the packaging excitedly to find a box of what appeared to be sticks with a button on one end and some weird drawings that Sirius didn't recognize.

"Get out!" Lily shrieked "You got me pens with Disney characters on them!" Remus was laughing, not just at her reaction, but also at Sirius's expression of utter bewilderment.

"Ok, I've heard you mention pens before, but This knee? What's that?" Sirius asked, at which Remus started laughing even harder and Lily looked absolutely horrified.

"You don't know what Disney is?" She whispered still shocked and he shook his head no.

"He's a pure blood remember Lily" Remus said wiping tears from his face "he knows nothing about muggle culture."

Lily nodded in understanding "I'll figure out how to get the movies here, and we'll have a marathon" she decided. Sirius didn't like the sound of that, marathons involved running and he hated running. He let it go though, he had learned when it came to the oddities of muggle culture to just roll with the punches.

"Here you two go" Lily said handing the two boys presents. Remus went first ripping the paper off vigorously to find two books. Sirius leaned over to read the titles, One looked more like a kids book and was titled 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', and the second one had a mouse on the cover and was called 'Flowers for Algernon'

"I've read both, the first one is becoming a very popular Christmas story, you might've already heard of it. The second one is a muggle story I enjoyed and thought you might as well."

"Thank you Lily, I've heard about the Grinch story and had been curious." Remus said grinning, and you could tell he was itching to start reading.

He successfully refrained from opening the book that very second by setting the two books on his night table. 

"your turn" he said turning to Sirius. He didn't need to be told twice curious as to what Lily might've gotten him. He hadn't even been expecting a present from her, but he supposed it wasn't that weird since he'd gotten her a present as well.

He ripped off the paper to find a small purple box inside. He looked at Lily questioningly and she made a shooing motion with her hands as if to say, open it! he removed the lid to see a necklace whose charm were the letters ACDC with a lightning bolt between the D and the C.

"What's this?" he asked looking at the symbol in bewilderment.

"It's the ACDC band logo, like one of the BEST muggle bands ever." Lily explained "but that's not the point. I charmed it so that if you ever nee help then you can call me, wherever you are as long as we are both wearing the necklace. I know I can't do to much to help, but if you ever need stitches again or get a letter than use it." she said

"Cool, so how do I use it?" He asked examining the necklace for a secret button or something.

"You hold the charm and think whatever message you want to convey, and I will hear it." Lily said. "I can send messages back as well because I have a matching necklace" she finished pulling a matching ACDC necklace out of her shirt.

"Well in that case you better use yours if you get a letter as well." Sirius said pointing at her mockingly.

"Deal" lily said giggling.

"Alright you two" Sirius said picking up the last two unopened gifts, and handing one to each of them "Remus you go first" he ordered, and he did opening the package to reveal the scrapbook.

Since the first big prank they set off, when the group had found out Sirius could draw, Remus had shown great appreciation for his art. Sirius then that Christmas, because he had no money, had to find other ways to get presents for his friends. For Remus's present he had drawn five pictures, and Remus had loved them. Remus put them in a scrap book, and while Remus's birthday passed over summer holidays, he spent the entire first week back at school drawing another five pictures for his present.

the pictures in the scrap book given to him last Christmas included a drawing of the four of them in their compartment when they first met, a drawing of Remus with the sorting hat on his head, a drawing of Remus sitting on the couch in front of the fire reading as Sirius and James played exploding snap and Peter cheered them on, a drawing of The four of them all squished under the invisibility cloak, and a drawing of them all making their oath to remain together forever.

The drawings Remus received for his birthday was a drawing of him and James entering the train car after summer, one was of the four of them all holding up their wrists to show their charm bracelets, another was of Remus's and Peter's first time on a broom both looking afraid but excited at the same time, one was of Remus and Sirius sitting facing each other on the bathroom floor both shirtless with a bottle of essence of dittany sitting between them, and the fifth was of the four of them sitting on the edge of the astronomy tower watching the sunset.

This Christmas the five drawings added to it were of the four of them dressed up for Halloween as one big dragon as Remus explained to them was part of Chinese culture, then there was James sleeping on the couch as the other three plus Lily and Marlene piled things on him, Remus using his weirdly good hearing to scout ahead of the other three when they were sneaking around at night, Remus helping James practice to make the quidditch team at one am while Peter fired bludgers at them and Sirius blocked, and Remus and Peter dressed in their house colors and celebrating when their team scored.

"These are amazing, Sirius" Remus said, his eyes scanning over them in wonder. He looked up at Sirius and gave him a big hug.

Lily took the book out of his lap to look through it "These are amazing!" she exclaimed after a second "I didn't know you could draw." Sirius simply shrugged in response trying to hide his blush at the compliments.

"Your turn." Sirius said gesturing at Lily, and she picked up her gift where it had been sitting next to her. She opened the small package to find a charm bracelet with two charms on it.

 

"It's so beautiful!" she exclaimed eyeing the two intricately carved charms that were on it. One was the sorting hat that had gold and red swirls coming from it's open mouth, and the second charm was of a needle and thread.

"Beautiful and effective, one of the best combinations." Sirius said receiving a look of confusion from the girl.

"Effective?" she questioned.

"Oh yes, you see each of us have one of those" Sirius explained and him and Remus showed her theirs "and we decided that since you were basically an honorary member of our group after the incident, that you mine as well get one too. Between the four of us we don't have a whole lot of secrets, but as you can presume the ones we do have are serious, and sometimes we just can't answer questions. That's what the charms are for, if you really feel like you just can't talk about something then you can use one of your charms."

"So if I use a charm then I can keep my secret and don't need to even explain why?" Lily asked. "No one will ever know what it is or why I kept it a secret? and what happens when I use it? it doesn't disappear does it? They're awfully beautiful I wouldn't want to lose one. Also how come you two have more charms then me?"

"ok, so yes to the first question. You don't necessarily keep your secret you just don't have to tell us. The rules are as follows you can tell us anytime if you want we just can't ask, and we are allowed to figure it out on our own. If we do figure it out we are allowed to ask if that is it, and you have to be honest. We are also only allowed to guess four times though, so you have to use them wisely." Remus explained, making sure not to miss anything.   
"And no you don't lose one, but instead the chain that links the charm to the bracelet changes from silver to gold. To answer your last question, we have more charms because we earned them. You earn a charm by doing something greatly influential for the group. We all start out with one for how we met which is where the sorting hat charm came from. The second you earned from helping us by patching up Sirius. Basically if someone thinks someone should earn a charm then we have a group meeting, decide, and create the charm to show what they did."

"Wow, ok, that's complicated" Lily said taking it all in.

"Welcome to our life" Sirius said his eyes meeting Remus's and they both grinned.

"Alright, I'm in I suppose." lily stated, and then yawned stretching her arms above her head "I'm awfully tired". Sirius reciprocated her yawn and Remus nodded in agreement.

"We better go to breakfast, we can't miss it, its the only time where you can get sweets for breakfast." Remus said

"breakfast doesn't start for at least another four hours Remus, it's only like two am. Look outside its till dark out." Lily said laughing

"what?" Remus questioned apparently noticing the time "Why were we up so early?"

"Lily and I decided we wanted to celebrate now, and we couldn't very well leave you out of the fun!" Sirius said smirking, and earning a pillow to the face.

"You interrupted one of my best Christmas dreams ever you git! I could've finished it! We could've celebrated at the ungodly hour of six am instead of an hour so evil that not even the ungodly will claim it! i mean two am?!" Remus shrieked, but he was smiling so you could tell he didn't really mind that much.

Lily and Sirius looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Now we are going to have to do this every year!" Lily exclaimed through her laughter earning a groan from Remus.

As the time passed they all ended up curled up like puppies on Remus's bed snoring. It had started out with exciting conversations like how they should prank the other two when they got back, but then as is typical at sleepovers the conversation mellowed out and they ended up talking about the deep things like whether or not a butterfly was in a state of pain and fear when it transformed in it's cocoon. Eventually they started to drift off, Sirius first then Lily and Remus followed seconds after.


	18. James and Sirius's Big Chance

"So are you two nervous?" Lily asked sliding into the seat next to Remus, followed by the rest of her dorm mates.

"Not really" James said swallowing the eggs that he'd nearly choked on upon Lily's arrival. 

It had become painstakingly obvious to everyone, aside from James and Lily themselves, that James had begun to fancy Lily. He was still in denial and Lily simply remained ignorant.

"What he means" Sirius said slapping James on the back in an attempt to dislodge the leftover egg from his windpipe "Is that we are but mere backups, so we honestly probably won't play at all"

"You don't know that" said Dorcas, always the optimist "I mean the Ravenclaws did take out four of the Slytherin players last match, the same thing might happen today" 

She was right, Sirius realized, where Slytherin and Gryffindor both had strength and skill, the Ravenclaws had strategy. They managed to take players out without even touching them using complex flight patterns and plays.

"I suppose your right" James said excitement dawning on his face. Sirius on the other hand felt butterflies start beating their wings against the walls of his stomach. He had so much faith in his team that he hadn't even considered the possibility of him playing this year at all. It's not as if he didn't want to play, he did, but it was also totally nerve racking.

................................................................................................................................................................

 

The crowd's cheers were deafening even from inside the locker room. Erik was practically screaming his pep up speech at them, and it was still hard to hear him. Sirius could only catch bits and pieces that sounded somewhere along the lines of "Hit them with the bludgers......... before they get you........ we can't get beat by bookworms........ we're gonna win....... alright it's time to go" It was enough for Sirius to get the idea.

The sun was blindingly bright, which would help in finding the snitch, but the wind was extremely strong which would make it very hard to fly. The starters took their places on the field and him, James, Karen Gillans the back up chaser, and Arthur Weasley who was the backup keeper took their seats on the bench.

The bench was where the four of them's odd friendship had formed. Aside from him and James none of them would've ever spoken a word to eachother. Karen was a fourth year heart breaker who never would've spared a glance at two second years, and Arthur was a fifth year muggle studies enthusiast. What had brought them together was being backup quidditch players, they had even made a handshake. No one knew about it aside from them of course, and they all agreed that no one ever would.

"And they're off" said Amos Diggory, the quidditch announcer. "Gryffindor's Charlie Mckinnon has got the ball, and passes it to Gideon Prewett who passes it to his brother Fabi..... NO! never mind that, it has been stolen by Amelia Bones of Ravenclaw. She's ducking and dodging the seemingly inadequate Gryffindor chasers, and now she's in front of the goal . Ladies and gentleman she shoo....... NO! She has been hit by a bludger by none other than Gryffindor beater Reginold Cattermore."

Cheers erupted from the stands at that, and Karen Gillans pointed out that she absolutely despised Diggory, which earned quite a few questions from the rest of them as to why. After multiple questions, it turned out that Karen was simply rather irritated at Digorry. 

"But why?" Arthur said still confused "What has he done to you?"

"Well for one thing, he stood me up on our second date, and then wouldn't even tell me why!" She exclaimed "Everything went quite well on the first date, at least I thought so, and he even went out of his way to ask me on a second date and all. And as you all know I rarely do second dates, but I had a great time and wanted to go out again. So I went to meet him the next Saturday as we had agreed and he didn't show!" Karen finished huffing, clearly still mad about it.

"Well, you're great Karen, and if he treated you like that then he isn't anywhere near good enough to deserve you." James said with a tone of confidence, as if everything he was saying was fact and not simply opinion.

"Thanks James" she said looking over at him with a curious expression, "I didn't know you were in the business of relationship advice"

"Tell anyone and you're dead, you hear" he replied wagging his finger with a playful expression on his face.

It was right about then that the game commentary started to make it's way back to being the center of attention, right in time to see the first major injury of the game.

"Oh my!" Amos Diggory exclaimed causing the four of them to look up in alarm "Davies of Gryffindor was reaching for the snitch when a bludger was hit from only two meters away knocking him clean off his broom. He doesn't seem to be moving and Madam Pomphrey is heading onto the pitch."

All heads on the bench immediately turned to stare at James, they all knew what this meant. Unfortunately for James, seeing Davies lying on the ground motionless seemed to be making him a bit nervous. He visibly gulped and stood up, stretching out some of his muscles, and hopped on his broom.

"You got this, mate!" Sirius yelled after him followed by cheers from Arthur and Karen.

"As Davies is being taken away on a stretcher, second year James Potter seems to be taking his place as seeker." Diggory commentated "Players at your ready, the game will resume in 3... 2.... 1!" and off the all flew swarming about each other in an attempt at winning possession of a certain ball.

The bench was no longer making small talk, but was instead completely consumed in the game. Well, not so much the game as watching James play. Every time he got near the snitch the three of them shot up in anticipation shouting praise at him, even though he probably couldn't hear it, and sunk back down in defeat when he lost it. They were in fact, so intent on watching James that they completely missed seeing Charlie Mckinnon being shoved from the back straight into the stands. He knocked out three rows of students and didn't get back up.

Karen flew up to meet the other chasers effectively taking his place, and just like the game resumed. Leaving Sirius and Arthur to cheer for Karen an James. The game was seemingly in Gryffindor's favor seeing as they had score another six goals, two of which were Karen's, leaving them a hundred points ahead of Ravenclaw. James had yet another close encounter with the snitch, but was unfortunately derailed by a bludger sent by the Ravenclaw beater.

The next injury of the game was thankfully a Ravenclaw chaser instead of another Gryffindor. A particularly well aimed bludger smashed straight into his arms as he was reaching out to receive a pass, clearly breaking both arms severely. They were not so lucky come the next injury, unfortunately. This time it was a Gryffindor... again.

"Oooooh, there goes Cattermore." Diggory said "He had been setting up to swing when another bludger was hit at him from behind causing him to get hit by both." Sirius sat horrified, Reggie was lying on a stretcher being taken away by Madam Pomphrey.

Sirius stumbled out of his stupor after Arthur slapped him on the back saying "good luck mate, you've got this!" He grabbed his bat and flew up to meet the rest of the team.

Sirius felt like he had hippogriffs beating their wings against the walls of his stomach, his heart was racing a million miles a minute, he was shaking like a leaf, his breathing was heavy, and his palms were sweaty. He was inconsolable, and despite the fact that he knew it was just a game, he still felt as if he was in danger. 'I'm not safe, I'm not safe, I'm not safe' repeated in his head like a mantra.

He heard the whistle blow dragging his mind to the here and now to see that the game had started. He turned around to do a quick reconnaissance and saw that his fellow beater, Anthony Goren, was busy sending a bludger at the Ravenclaw keeper so that Karen could score, but another bludger was heading strait for James. Sirius zoomed through the air, all nervousness forgotten, but the mantra was still pounding in his head louder and louder. "Its not safe here, Its not SAFE HERE, ITS NOT SAFE HERE" and he threw himself in the path of the bludger and turned to whack it at the Ravenclaw seeker who was hot on James' trail.

It hit his leg making him go spiraling off for about thirty meters before gaining control again. Unfortunately James had missed the snitch, and it had yet again disappeared. That hit had erased all of Sirius's nerves, and he was now completely and utterly petrified. His mind was right, it wasn't safe for him here, but more importantly his teammates weren't safe either. And so shaking like a leaf, and having forgotten everything he had been trained to do, Sirius relied completely and totally on his instincts, and protected his teammates.

He flew around here and there hitting bludgers, he was hit a few times nearly falling off his broom, but he could proudly say that not a single one of his teammates had gotten hurt from when he came off the bench till the ending whistle blew. He couldn't say that for the Ravenclaw team though, their entire bench was on the field and they were playing one down by the end of the game.

Everything had been so agonizingly slow while it happened, but now that it was over his memories of the past forty minutes came in flashes and were few and far between. In fact, he wasn't even sure if they had won. He was exhausted and disoriented, but that he figured was just the adrenaline high that he'd been soaring on was wearing off.

All the sudden he was stumbling forward trying not to fall over at the sudden weight that had dropped onto his back. Once he had regained his balance he saw it was James wearing the biggest grin in the world. They had won! and James had caught the snitch!

"Nice one mate, You'll have to tell me about it later, my back was turned when you caught it." Sirius said mirroring James's grin.

"Don't worry" Said Peter coming up behind them alongside Remus and Lily "I doubt he'll have much trouble recounting the tale to all of us about a million times over." to which they all laughed.

the other girls were trailing behind Marlene on her way to check on her brother, who was sitting up in his stretcher looking beat up, but alright much to Sirius's relief. The other injured gryffindors were all in various steps of being healed, but all looked like they were going to be fine.

"You did really well, I'm sure most of you lot would've been in that tent if not for you" said Remus following Sirius's gaze to the med tent.

"He's right, you saved my arse more times than I can count out there" James added grinning at him and clapping him on the back, while Lily nodded along earnestly beside him.

"Thanks" Sirius said grinning. As glad as he was that they had won the game, he was even more relieved that it was over. The remnants of his adrenaline high had left him exhausted, and all he wanted to do right then was take a shower and a nap.

The team unfortunately had other plans, and he and James were carried away by a very proud Erik along with the rest of the quidditch team for quote on quote 'the party of the century'.


	19. The Potter's

"Are you sure your parents will be okay with this?" Sirius said nervously to James while stuffing his clothes into his trunk.

"I'm positive" James said rolling his eyes exasperatedly, mainly due to the fact that this was literally the millionth time Sirius had asked. "They wrote back immediately when I asked, and they seemed pretty excited that I was bringing home one of my friends."

Sirius nodded at this, but he was still very nervous at the prospect of staying with James's family over the Easter holidays. James picked up on this immediately.

"Look mate, I know you're worried, but I swear my parents are literally the best. Plus, worst case scenario, its only four days, and Remus and Pete are coming over for the last day, so it can't get too bad."

Sirius nodded feeling a bit better, "Yah you're right" he said to James while slamming his trunk closed.

"Aren't I always" James said smirking causing Remus, who had just walked in, to flick his ear.

"Most definitely not!" Remus declared, "and anyways we need to go the carriages are leaving soon."

The three boys met Peter in the common room where he had been waiting for them. Upon seeing them he launched himself up out of the chair while saying something about how they were going to miss the train.

"Chill Pete" Sirius said placing a hand on his shoulder "We'll be just fine".

Peter did not, in fact, 'chill' until they were actually sitting in their compartment and they were at least 10 kilometers away from the train station.

"I'm SUPER excited that you all are coming over for a bit." James said bouncing in his seat, which wasn't surprising once you saw the mound of sweets wrappers in the seat next to him.

"I still can't believe you live in Wales of all places, I figured you lived in England like the rest of us" Sirius said, then added upon second thought "Does that mean you speak Welsh?"

"ie wrth gwrs, peidiwch a chi?"(English: Of course I do, don't you?) James said grinning snarkily.

"wrth gwrs, rwy'n synnu fy mod yn amau fy mod." (English: Of course, I'm surprised you doubted me) Remus quipped back before anyone else could respond.

"wyt ti o ddifri! Rydych chy wedi llwrdwyn fy nhrydan!" (English: Are you Serious! You totally just stole my thunder!" James exclaimed at which Remus burst out laughing.

"Care to explain what just happened" said a mildly curious Peter while a very confused Sirius nodded along.

"Basically I just roasted James, but in welsh" Remus explained.

"So nothing too out of the ordinary then" Sirius said causing laughs from Remus and Peter and a grunt from James.

"So why do you two know Welsh, I thought the national language was English and only a small pocket still actually knew the language." Peter asked.

"That is true for muggles" Remus answered "but what they don't know is that the majority of Welsh speakers are actually just wizards using it as their own secret language." James nodded to confirm.

Just then Sirius fake yawned, "enough of that educational stuff, who wants to play some exploding snap?" Sirius said while James took the hint and brought the game out.

......................................................................................................................................................

"See you two in a few days" Remus said to James and Sirius as way of parting.

"Yeah, see ya" Peter added before they both made their way to their parents.

"Alright, let's go find mum and dad." James said cheerfully, clearly excited to see his parents again. Sirius wasn't quite as excited, in fact he honestly felt like he would be sick. Not only because the idea of meeting James's parents was terrifying, but also because he had seen his Mother standing on the train station waiting to pick up Regulus.

Judging by the letters that had been sent to him from his oh so beloved family he didn't think he'd enjoy their next meeting. He also hadn't exactly asked permission to go to James's, in fact his mother believed him to still be at school.

He was so busy dodging behind people in an attempt to remain unseen by his Mother that he didn't notice James stop in front of his parents and walked right into him causing them both to stumble and nearly fall had Mr. potter not caught them.

"I am so sorry!" Sirius exclaimed, absolutely mortified that he had run right into James in front of his parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter both laughed at that, and James turned around grinning and said "It's alright mate, but honestly, watch where you're going next time" Sirius grinned sheepishly at this causing James to laugh.

"Well, it's nice to meet you" Sirius said his face red with embarrassment as he stuck out his hand to shake Mr. Potter's hand, and when Mrs. Potter stuck out her hand Sirius took it and kissed her knuckles just as he had been trained to do.

"What the Hell, mate" James said looking at Sirius with a very confused expression.

"Watch your Language James Fleamont Potter!" Mrs. Potter said "clearly Sirius here was raised as a gentleman, something I can say, unfortunately, has not rubbed off on you."

"Alright, is everybody ready to go?" Mr. Potter said glancing bemusedly between the three of them. To which Sirius nodded eagerly wanting to get out of there before his Mother noticed him.

They all grabbed hands and apparated into what was apparently the Potter's living room. It was a rather large room that somehow still managed to feel comfy and homey. There was a fire going in the hearth and a bunch of couches and coffee tables surrounding it.

"Welcome to Potter Manor, mate" James said spinning around, and Sirius whistled appreciatively.

"Why don't you give Sirius a tour while I get dinner ready, hon" Mrs. Potter said resting a hand on James's shoulder and James nodded.

"Come on mate, we don't want to miss dinner. My Mum's the best cook in the world!" James said while running up the stairs with Sirius in tow, but Sirius could've sworn he heard Mrs. Potter laughing at the comment.

Potter manor turned out to be massive. There were at least fifteen spare rooms, the master bedroom where James's parents slept, James's room which was covered in posters and had a king sized bed with a Gryffindor coverlet, a kitchen with two house elves named Hannah and Sully who were both very kind, a couple of offices that they skipped over, and a very large library. The outside was even bigger though with gardens, a quidditch pitch, a pond, and a clump of trees that supposedly housed a tree house.

"DINNER BOYS!" Mrs. Potter shouted to them from the kitchen.

"COMING!" James yelled back causing Sirius to look at him in confusion. This confusion only grew when James only washed his hands instead of completely washing up and changing into nice clothes.

"Who are you trying to impress, mate?" James asked Sirius while he was fixing his hair in the mirror.

"What do you mean impress?" Sirius asked "A family dinner is a formal affair, honestly we should probably be putting on dress robes."

"OK what the actual fuck is going on mate" James said "You are acting like you're from one of those gentleman's books that Remus reads sometimes."

"James, this is literally exactly how I'm to be acting" Sirius exclaimed "Why are you acting all improper!"

"OK first of all this isn't improper it's normal, and second of all who even told you all of this?" James asked

"My family did of course!" Sirius exclaimed

"OK then that explains it" James exclaimed finally understanding what was going on "How many times must we establish that your family is in no way shape or form a healthy or accurate representation of what is normal?"

"Well..." Sirius started but then trailed off once he realized that he really couldn't argue that.

"Exactly" James said seeing his friend's hesitation and doubt "Now let's go eat, I'm starving!"

Dinner went pretty smoothly with minimal weirdness on Sirius's part aside from his exceptional table manners, which was pretty normal for him anyways. Sirius had even started to relax a bit, that was until Mr. Potter asked James to pass the mashed potatoes.

"Sure thing dad" James had replied as he picked it up, and then the potatoes exploded all over him with some splattering onto Sirius who had nearly had a heart attack as well. And then Mr. Potter burst out laughing. not the kind of laughing he was used to from his parents that usually came at the cost of another's pain. This was the kind of lighthearted laughter he was used to hearing from James after they'd pulled a harmless prank.

Then even more shocking was that Mrs. Potter and James joined in after a few seconds until they were all laughing while Sirius sat in wonder. That is until their laughs and grins became so irresistible that even Sirius found himself grinning and chuckling a bit.

"You..... Are so...... Gonna .....Pay ......For that" James managed to get out between laugh.

"Do your worst son" Mr. Potter replied while trying to catch his breath.

"Just so long as you lot clean up the mess you guys' make" Mrs. Potter said having already regained her composure "Starting with this" She added gesturing at the mess on the dining table.

"Yes Ma'am" the three of them chorused already starting to help Hannah and Sully clear the dishes off the table. Sirius glanced over and saw Mrs. Potter smiling to herself, Mr. Potter trying to pick a stray bit of potato out of his hair, and James grinning at him mischievously letting Sirius know that he was already scheming. Taking all of this in Sirius had one clear thought.

I'm going to like it here.


	20. Easter at the Potter's

"Hey guys" James yelled to Remus and Peter who had just apparated along with their parents to the end of James' walkway, and he paid for his loss of focus with a water balloon to the head.

"PAY ATTENTION, MATE" Sirius yelled smirking from his perch on the roof where he could conveniently snipe James and Mr. Potter without being easily hit.

"We leave them alone for five days Pete and look what happens" Remus said looking over at his smaller friend.

Pete simply nodded in agreement, but his eyes gave away just how much he wanted to join them in their mischief. Remus sighed knowing that if he was going to have to join then he was going to win. Remus knew that those two needed their egos deflated every once in a while.

"Alright Pete, on three drop your trunk and run for that bucket over there, and i'll run for the one over near that bush" Remus said pointing over to his right "Then meet me under that archway near those hedges. One, two, THREE!" he shouted and they both took off.

They both made it to the archway with their buckets without getting hit seeing as James, Sirius, and Mr. Potter were all pretty distracted with each other and started setting up a base. Once they were all set up they began lobbing balloons strategically at James and Sirius, but didn't dare throw any at Mr. Potter till he hit Peter straight in the face knocking him backwards.

"I guess he's fair game then, huh?" Remus said

"You think?" Peter replied laughing, and then threw a balloon over to where Mr. Potter was hiding behind the shed.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Potter had successfully managed to get the Pettegrews and the Lupins through the melee that was her front yard, and into the safety of the tea parlor where she had tea and sandwiches waiting for her guests.

"Please sit" she said to her guests gesturing to the chairs all sat around the table "and help yourselves" she added nodding towards the tea and snacks she had set out.

While everyone got their tea ready and put sandwiches onto tiny plates, Mrs. Potter took the opportunity to examine her company. 

Mrs. Pettigrew was an average looking woman in every physical manor, but there was love and trust and acceptance radiating off of her. She seemed like the kind of woman who would stand by you no matter what. Mr. Pettigrew was also nothing spectacular in appearance but he had a very calm aura about him, he seemed to be the kind of dad who would take his son on fishing trips. Nothing like the man she'd married who was currently having a water balloon fight in the front yard, but he still seemed a good man.

Mrs. Lupin was a small woman with short wild brown hair, and although physically she looked very tired, inwardly she seemed to be burning with energy. She was like a bright star who was slowly fading, and Mrs. Potter hoped Remus wouldn't be too young when she did finally fade. Mr. Lupin was the real curiosity though, he carried a darkness with him, and although he did definitely love his wife very much, he still had a darkness with him.

"Was that your husband I saw out there with the boys, Euhemia?" Hope Lupin asked with a smile.

"Yes, it was" She replied "We had an agreement that he would watch the boys, while I hosted our company. We both thought it for the best that the antics remain outside" She added smiling politely.

"Very wise of you" Mr. Pettigrew said, "I remember one time when Peter was seven we had company over, and we left him and his cousin in the playroom together, and lo and behold when it came time for tea we found a whole lot of tadpoles swimming about in our drinks." He said and all the adults laughed.

................................................................................................................................................................

Although the Potter's had given the boys each their own room to sleep in for the night, the four of them were all piled onto James' bed with a mound of sweets at one AM playing would you rather.

"So, Pete" James said "would you rather go on a date with the giant squid or Gertrude Maller from Slythrtin"

"Definitely the giant squid" Peter replied being mean in the way that all little boys were mean.

"Alright your turn" James said to Pete biting off the end of his licorice wand.

"Remus" Pete said turning over to face him "Would you rather get shot or be thrown into a volcano and sink into the lava"

Remus sighed exasperatedly "That's not even accurate Pete, you don't sink under the lava like the movies. Scientifically speaking the lava would would be so hot that you would float on top and boil from the outside in and the inside out at the same time." He said matter of factly.

"How do you even know that?" Sirius asked

"cause i'm smart, remember dummy" Remus said throwing a barf flavored Bertie Botts bean at him.

"Whatever" Sirius said rolling his eyes "and you never said which you would rather, smart guy."

"Oh yeah, i'd take the gunshot." He added decisively

"Why though" James said chiming in "lava sounds so much cooler"

"Because I could possibly survive the gunshot, but there's no way i'm living through lava." Remus reasoned, and all the boys nodded understanding.

The game continued for about another hour or so until all the boys sugar crashed and fell asleep sprawled out on top of each other on James' bed.

................................................................................................................................................................

Mrs. Potter was slightly confused to find all her guests' beds empty and made when she went to wake them all up, but all her confusion went away when she opened her son's door to see the mess of limbs and sweets wrappers all on top of his bed.

"Oh just give me a minute" She whispered to herself and ran to fetch her camera. She ran back to her son's room and snapped a picture quickly then proceeded to start the process of waking the boys with shaking and promises of a delicious breakfast.

after fifteen minutes she had manged to coax the groggy bunch of twelve and thirteen year old boys down to the breakfast table, and began bringing out homemade waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages, and all the fixings you could think of. Once the boys started eating they began to show some signs of life again.

"What time is it?" Peter asked in between bites of his waffle.

"eight thirty" Mrs. Potter answered "and we need to be out the door in an hour so hurry up, and get yourselves ready to go back to school." 

"Can't we just all stay here, mum?" James said not wanting to have to write his potions essay that was due in three days.

"No, you may not." Mrs. Potter declared "Education is very important!"

At that there were groans all around the table, well not from Remus, but he was a nerd.

"Alright, go get dressed the lot of you, and be back down here in half an hour" Mrs. Potter ordered shooing the boys back upstairs, and she began clearing the dishes with Sully's help.

thirty five minutes later the boys all stumbled down the stairs with trunks in tow and lined up near the entrance waiting on instruction as to how they were travelling to kings cross.

"Alright everybody" Mr. Potter said clapping his hands together "We are going to be apparating to the station, but we have to walk to the end of our property because of the wards we have set up."

They all trudged up the Potter's walkway which was a quarter mile long, and a few minutes later found themselves standing outside the Potter's property. Looking back on it now all Sirius could see was an overgrown field that looked like the kind of place you wouldn't want to walk through.

"Everybody hold hands" Mrs. Potter said, and Sirius did as he was told and grabbed James and Remus' hands. All the sudden the familiar feeling of being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste and spinning.

"Ahhh" Peter yelled falling flat on his arse upon landing taking James down with him.

"Get off me Pete" James said trying to untangle himself from Peter.

"James, you're on ME" Peter exclaimed, at which point Sirius and Remus were laughing so hard that they were leaning on each other so as not to join their friends on the ground.

"C'mon boys" Mrs. Potter said trying to mask her laughs "We need to go, you don't want to miss the train."

It took about five minutes with Mrs. Potter's coaxing and Mr. Potter's unhelpful laughing to get the boys up and moving. It was eleven twenty eight when they finally all made it onto the platform, and the train was already preparing to depart with only a few stragglers climbing aboard.

"Run, boys!" Mr. Potter exclaimed seeing that the train was about to leave, and they did.

They sprinted to the luggage pile and threw their trunks and sprinted to the last train car and went straight for their compartment that they had claimed by carving their names into the door frame. Thankfully it was empty and they all collapsed on the seats right as the train started moving, and they all crowded around the window to say goodbye to the Potter's who were waving at them.

And for once, Sirius thought, he did not particularly want to return to school.


	21. Swimming

"C'mon Rem I know you can do it" Sirius said doing his best to encourage Remus.

"I really can't" Remus replied "Lily really is the good one at charms why can't we just ask her for help. You know she will if she knows this isn't for a prank."

"Yes, but we don't need to ask her" Sirius argued earnestly "And anyways you get very good marks in charms"

"Only because of Lily" Remus said exasperated "She helps me with charms and potions and I help her with transfiguration and care of magical creatures"

"Whatever" Sirius sighed defeated "Just try again" and when Remus opened his mouth to argue Sirius released his most deadly weapon. His puppy dog eyes.

"UGH, I hate it when you do that" Remus groaned and Sirius knew that he'd won.

It was a week before Summer break and Sirius had been up to his neck in anxiety as to how he was going to survive, specifically without food. That was until their charms professor had decided to spend his last day of class telling them about some of the charms they would learn in their later years. Sirius of course had been paying little attention to him until he heard him mention an extension spell that would allow him to keep enough food in the pocket of his pants to last him all summer. And so here the two of them sat in the back corner of the library with a pair of Sirius' pants trying to figure out how to perform the sixth year spell.

That was until James burst in out of breath.

"SOOOOOOO, GUESS WHO JUST MADE PLANS TO GET YOU TWO'S ARSES OUT AND ABOUT INSTEAD OF SITTING IN WITH ALL THESE DUSTY BOOKS!" James yelled excitedly getting a very angry shushing from the librarian.

"No thanks James, we're kinda busy right now" Sirius said

"Look I know this needs to get done" James said "but it can't hurt to take a little break, can it?"

Sirius weighed his options and decided to at least see what James wanted to do.

"So what were you planning on us doing" Remus asked beating Sirius to it.

"We are going swimming in the lake with the girls" James said excitedly

"NO" Sirius and Remus both said at the same time, and James looked taken aback.

"What do you mean no?!" James asked exasperatedly "What do you two have against swimming?"

"Let's just say I don't really have my bathing suit bod ready yet" Sirius explained

"Ditto" Remus echoed

"OK, first of all who says ditto?" James asked looking over at Remus

"I do" Remus replied shrugging and James shook his head

"And second of all we are thirteen" James pointed out "Nobody is going to expect either of you two to have six packs!"

"That's not what we meant, James" Remus said sighing

"Then what did you mean" James said arms flapping uselessly at his sides in exasperation.

"Well for starters," Sirius pointed out "How about the fact that I have the words 'blood traitor' carved into my back."

"That's what this is about" James said rolling his eyes "Just use a goddamn disillusionment charm you idiots"

Sirius and Remus sat there contemplating that for a little while wondering why exactly neither of them had thought of that.

"So are you two coming or what" James said

"Sure, why not" Remus replied before Sirius could stop him. He really did not want to go swimming.

"You two can go" Sirius said quickly "I don't even own a bathing suit anyways."

"You can borrow a pair of mine" James said refusing to take no for an answer. His friends were so stressed out and he knew they needed a break.

Sirius trailed behind them trying to come up with a sufficient excuse, aside from the truth, that could get him out of this. He tried out different ones the entire time including I don't feel well, I have homework, and if the giant squid eats me then it's all your fault. None of which worked much to his dismay.

"Hey guys, glad you could join us." said Marlene while Dorcas looked up and smiled sweetly at them from where she was laying down towels.

"Me too" James said and pointed at Sirius and Remus "It was nearly impossible to get these two out here"

"Where are the others anyway" Sirius asked trying to change the topic"

"well Jaryn and Alice were both trying to find their bathing suits when we left, and Lily and Peter ran back to grab sunscreen" Dorcas explained.

"What's sunscreen?" Sirius asked looking over at Remus to explain but instead Jaryn answered.

"It's a muggle lotion" She said walking up with Alice in tow "When you rub it on yourself it stops the sun from burning you"

"Cool" Sirius said.

If he was being honest Jaryn had intimidated him for the better part of first year. She had been strong and tan for her age and wore a bandanna in her hair and big black combat boots and had multiple piercings in each ear. As he'd slowly gotten to know her though, he found that she was actually a very sweet girl who literally loved dogs and worked on her parent's farm which explained the tan and the strength. He also found that though she was pureblood her parents rarely used magic and for the most part were very chill hippies as she called them.

"OK WE GOT THE SUNSCREEN" Lily yelled running up to them yellow sundress flying in the wind and a very red faced Peter following. She stopped abruptly in front of them and let her entire armful of sunscreen fall the the ground and Peter did the same.

"Jesus Christ Lils" Remus exclaimed "That is an ungodly amount of sunscreen"

"I'm a redhead Rem, I literally got a sunburn through the window of Mcgonnagal's class one time." Lily pointed out and they all laughed.

"Alright guys, lets go swimming" Marlene said grabbing a bottle and everyone else followed her lead and started rubbing the lotion all over themselves.

"You guys have to rub it in you know?" Peter said laughing looking at James and Sirius who had white streaks everywhere.

"I see" James said looking at the girls who were rubbing it in so that you couldn't see it, and the two started trying to rub in their white streaks. Once Sirius had managed to finish that he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I can help you get your back if you'd like" Jaryn said kindly, but Sirius immediately started freaking out. My back, where my scar is, she'll see it! he thought panicked to himself trying to find an excuse to get Jaryn away from his back.

"Ummm" He said then saw that Lily wasn't helping anyone "No need, Lily already said she would help me" he said loudly making sure Lily heard him.

She turned around with a confused expression about to point out that she'd said no such thing until she saw Sirius' desperate expression.

"Yes, I did" she agreed "Come on over" and he did

"Thanks Lils" He said sighing with relief as she started rubbing sunscreen on his back, and he caught James look over jealously. While he still wouldn't admit it, Sirius knew that James definitely fancied Lily Evans.

"No Problem" She said "but why wouldn't you let Jaryn do it? she wasn't planning on biting you or anything.

"I know" He replied sighing "I just panicked thinking that the disillusionment charm might wear off or something and she'd see it."

"First of all it wouldn't have because that's not how those charms work" Lily replied "And second of all, it's not like she would think any less of you for it, that mean group of Slytherins call her that all the time."

"Yeah, but it's different having it carved into your back, isn't it?" He pointed out.

"Fair enough" Lily agreed "You're good" she added having finished slathering sunscreen on his back.

"Thanks" he said and she nodded

"C'mon you two!" James said grabbing their wrists and dragging them into the water excitedly.

The water was a bit chilly, but it felt good on such a hot sunny day. Sirius honestly had not expected to enjoy being in the water, but he did. The water only went up to the bottom of his ribs at his deepest, and the nine of them had fun splashing each other for about an hour until Alice accidentally discovered the drop off.


	22. My Savior the Giant Squid

Marlene had been chasing Alice farther out, splashing her until all the sudden with a yelp she disappeared under the water and popped up a few seconds later.

"There's a drop off Here" She exclaimed "All the sudden the ground just disappeared"

"She's right!" Marlene said jumping off after her "I bet I can swim farther out than you!" She added and started swimming.

"Nuh uh" Alice said and started swimming but stopped when she was about five meters out.

"Hah!" Marlene exclaimed and stopped once she was about six meters out "I win"

And thus began the competition to see who could swim the farthest out. By the time everyone but Sirius had gone Lily and James were tied for first at about ten meters out, Remus and Jaryn were tied for second at eight meters, Dorcas was in second to last at three meters, and Pete was dead last at two.

"Your turn Sirius" Jaryn said grinning

"No thanks" Sirius replied making his voice sound unconcerned "I prefer watching you guys from back here"

"Come off it mate!" James exclaimed "Don't tell me you're scared"

"I'm not" he said shrugging "I just don't feel like it is all"

"Nope!" James exclaimed grabbing Sirius and pulling him towards the edge "I will not let you be more of a Chicken than Pete!"

"I'm right here, James!" Peter exclaimed.

"No, James, Don't" Sirius said as he struggled against his friends grip, ignoring Peter.

"Pete!" James called once he realized he wasn't going to win "Come help me!" and he did come, which was when Sirius knew he wouldn't be able to break out of their hold.

"GUYS STOP" He was yelling now terror running through him "I CAN'T..." swim would've been the next word to come out of his mouth had he not been cut off by water when James and Peter threw him over the drop off.

AHe was sinking now, he could see the surface of the water if he looked up and he was kicking and struggling against the water trying to reach it, but the more he struggled the harder it got. He let out a scream with one last push towards the surface using his last bit of oxygen, but it was useless.

He was sinking now and he could feel his consciousness slipping. Right before he was about to close his eyes he felt something wrap around his waste, and all of a sudden he was lifted out of the water and he was placed on the edge of the lake.

"Sirius!" he heard someone shout, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered because he still couldn't breath. He was clawing at his chest his eyes wide open shocked. He saw a flash of red that must've been Lily's hair.

"Sirius!" She exclaimed grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her. "Hold still you've got water in your lungs!" and he heard her say something along the lines of 'aqius extractum' before he felt water rushing up his throat and out of his mouth.

He was doubled over on the grass puking up what felt like all the water in the lake. When it was finally over he collapsed back on the grass with his arm covering his eyes just breathing.

Once he'd finally caught his breath and stopped coughing up little bits of water he sat up to see that his friends were all kneeling in a circle around him.

"What the hell happened" James exclaimed clearly confused "we threw you over and you just never came back up for air, did you hit your head or something?"

Sirius just sat there not really wanting to say anything, but thankfully he didn't have to since Remus had already figured out what happened.

"He can't swim, James" Remus said quietly, and looks of realization dawned on everyone's faces.

"I'm gonna go in" Sirius said breaking the silence and got up and started walking back towards the castle.

He was starting to panic, he felt as if he couldn't breath again and he wanted to get away from everyone. In fact, he was so distracted that he didn't notice someone was following him. He ducked inside the first empty classroom he came across and slid down against the wall.

Panic was rolling over him in waves, his lungs were about to burst from lack of oxygen because he couldn't breath again, and he could feel a wetness on his face that must have been tears. He was in such a state that he didn't notice the door open or close, he didn't hear the hurried footsteps approaching him, and he just barely registered the fact that arms had wrapped around him and that he was being pressed back into someone else's chest.

"Hey, hey, hey" He heard that someone say "It's ok, it's ok, you're alive, you're alive, Sirius do you hear me?" But it wasn't working and they seemed to realize that.

"Hey, I want you to breath with me ok?" He heard them say and felt their chest rise against his back and Sirius tried to make himself breath too.

"That's it" they coaxed as Sirius started to breath a bit again "There you go, now just focus on that" said a voice that sounded like James', and he kept breathing until his heart calmed down and he collapsed laying back on James who was more than happy to take his friends weight for a while.

"I almost died, James" He said voice cracking. "I couldn't breath and I thought it was over until whoever reached down and grabbed me."

"I know, mate" James said remorse filling his voice "and I am so, so sorry."

"It's ok" Sirius said moving away from James and turning around to face him. "I forgive you, it's not like you knew or anything" James was about to protest, but Sirius cut him off.

"Let's go back to the dorm" Sirius suggested "I want to take a nap" and James agreed.

................................................................................................................................................................

"Alright that's it" Remus said setting the advanced charms book down "I'm going to bed, I'm exhausted."

The two of them had been camped out trying to work the spell in the common room for a solid two hours and both of them were getting pretty tired. The rest of the boys had already gone up to bed and now Remus was joining them. Sirius wanted to as well, but he knew his anxiety would not let him sleep until this was done.

"What are you up to?" Came a voice from behind Sirius and he turned to see Jaryn.

"I'm trying to figure out how to perform this charm" Sirius explained gesturing to the page in the book he was looking at. She leaned over and studied it clearly curious as to what exactly Sirius might need help with.

"What in the world do you need something like this for?" Jaryn asked trying to fathom what kind of prank they might be pulling that might require an extension charm.

"Our prank pants!" Sirius exclaimed grinning, and using his back up lie he'd prepared in case anyone asked what they needed the charm for. "It's so we can keep an infinite amount prank supplies on us at all times."

"That sounds terrifying" Jaryn said exasperated, and Sirius shrugged. "Alright, I'll help you as long as you make me two promises."

"Anything" Sirius said grateful for the help.

"First, me helping you NEVER gets back to Lily, she'll kill me if she finds out I took any part in this. Second, you also can NEVER use those to prank the girls or I. Deal?"

"Done!" Sirius said seeing as her demands would be very easily kept.

"Alright let me see you try it so I can see if you're doing anything wrong" She said and Sirius pointed his wand at the paints and recited the charm while swishing and turning his wand like the book instructed.

"See it works a little bit" he said sticking his arm in up to his elbow "but you definitely don't get the infinite storage space promised."

"Well that's because you aren't saying it quite right" she said, and then as if it was the easiest thing in the world said the incantation and swished and turned her wand. Sirius reached into the pocket and for the life of him could not feel the bottom.

"How!" He exclaimed astonished "we've been working on this for more than a week!"

"This spell has Arabic origins" she said shrugging "unlike most spells we learn which are Latin based. You just weren't pronouncing it right."

"How did you know though?" Sirius asked bewildered.

"My parents made me study linguistics before I came to Hogwarts." She said shrugging "I'm glad they did too. It's been very useful" she added

"I'm glad they did too"Sirius exclaimed "or else we might never have finished our prank pants!" Jaryn tipped her head back to laugh at that and Sirius couldn't help but laugh too.

The two of them ended up staying on that couch talking till it was long past midnight and everyone else was fast asleep, but their spirits never tired

"Alright, spill" Sirius said raking a hand through his hair. "You've got that look that says you're dying to ask something but you don't know how to go about it."

"How do you not know how to swim?" She asked with a look that said she had clearly been wanting to ask that all day.

"I suppose my parents didn't really see fit to teach their 'filthy traitorous Gryffindor mudblood loving son' basic skills like swimming and instead decided to use my inability as a method of punishment for my existence" he explained in that bitterly honest way that is only ever used when talking to someone at two am.

"Is that really true?" She asked quietly with a horrified expression.

"Yup" Sirius said with fake cheer, and in an attempt to change the subject added "so which one of you guys pulled me out anyways?"

"None of us did" Jaryn said "It was the giant squid who grabbed you and put you right back up on shore."

"Are you serious?!" He exclaimed, he had honestly thought one of them had grabbed him not the squid

"No, I'm not. You are." Jaryn said grinning with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. And they both collapsed into peals of laughter.

"Well today has been eventful!" Sirius said grinning after they'd both stopped laughing. "You know, if you'd told me this morning that I'd be talking about my savior, the giant squid, before I went to bed I'd never have believed you."

"And if you'd told me that I'd say this to you before I went to bed I'd never have believed you either." Jaryn replied

"Wait, say what?" He asked confused and she took a deep breath and said the five words he least expected to hear.

"I fancy you, Sirius Black" she explained, and Sirius sat stock still absolutely shocked.

"Ummmm, could you repeat that please?" He said finally regaining some of his composure.

"I fancy you, Sirius Black" she repeated rolling her eyes "now will you go on a date with me or not?" Sirius sat there for a second trying to figure out what was going on before realizing that Jaryn was waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, sure, definitely!" He said trying to find the right words.

"Good" Jaryn said and then got up stretching her arms behind her head. "I'm going to bed now, night."

Then she did another very unexpected thing and leaned down and kissed him. It was a short sweet peck on the lips, and it was everything a first kiss should be for two thirteen year olds. This sense of normalcy comforted Sirius and the idea of what was to come made him buzz a bit in anticipation.

After watching her climb out of sight up the stairs to the girls dormitory he headed up and collapsed on his own bed replaying the scenes of that day over and over until he fell asleep.


	23. The Week After

The week following went by in a blur of last minute packing, a few minor pranks, and one picnic date with Jaryn. Before Sirius knew it, he was sitting in the common room the night before they would all leave trying to figure out how he was going to tell  
Jaryn that she couldn't write him over the summers.

"Alright go ahead and say whatever it is you don't want to tell me" she said squeezing his hand and closing her book.

"Well as you know summer is upon us, and that means we won't be able to see each other." He explained, fidgeting uselessly.

"Yes, that is what summer typically means." She said, sarcastically "but we can still write each other" she added more seriously.

"See that's the problem" he said using his free hand to rub the back of his neck "we actually can't write."

"What do you mean we can't write?" She asked confused turning to look at him instead of the fire.

"I can't write you, and you can't write me." Sirius explained unhelpfully.

"Yeah I got that part" she said frustration creeping into her voice making Sirius flinch a bit.

"My parents don't really know that we are a thing" he explained "and they will if we write."

"So what?" She asked in a fighting, but slightly hurt tone. Sirius mentally face palmed realizing how that had sounded.

"So they won't like you, and they might act on it." He said trying to explain without worrying her too much.

"Why wouldn't they like me." She asked an expression of hurt flashing across her face.

"Because you are a blood traitor" he said shrugging his shoulders as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He felt her still besides him, stupid, stupid, stupid he thought wishing he could bang his head against the wall.

"So that's what you think of me then." She said quietly fuming with anger.

"No, no, no that's not what I meant." Sirius said trying to fix what he'd said.

"Oh really then what did you mean!" She said loudly, almost yelling with rage.

"I mean it is true" he said quickly "but it's not like I care, I'm dating you aren't I?"

Bad choice of words he thought right before he felt Jaryn's hand slap him across the face.

"Screw you, Sirius Black" she yelled standing up "we are over!"

He watched her run up the girls staircase and looked around to see everyone who was in the common room was staring at him.

"Oh, bugger off why don't you!" He said loudly to the onlookers and they quickly went back to whatever they had been doing previously.

He climbed up the stairs to his dorm taking the stairs two at a time. He opened the door and slammed it behind him going over to his bed and laying face down in among the pile of pillows.

"What's wrong mate?" He heard Peter's tentative voice ask.

"Jaryn broke up with me" he said into his pillows.

"We can't hear you when you talk into your pillows like that" James said walking over to his bed.

"I said" Sirius said flipping over onto his back "Jaryn broke up with me."

"What? Why?" Remus said coming over to join James at his bedside.

"Do we need to prank her!?" James said.

"No, it was my fault" Sirius said miserably "I was trying to explain to her why we couldn't write over the summer and it just came out all wrong and I ended up offending her." He explained.

At that he began to tear up a bit and he could feel a tightness in his throat. He wasn't really that attached to Jaryn romantically, but he definitely didn't want to lose her friendship. And the more he thought about it the more he realized that losing Jaryn's friendship likely also meant losing the rest of the girls' friendship too. They tended to stick together that way, you hurt one of them and you would be on all of their 'kill lists'.

"I'm going to bed" he declared grabbing a pair of pajamas out of his packed trunk and closed his bed curtains.

He didn't really go to bed, instead he just lay there, his anxiety about losing his friends turning into anxiety about going home. He must've sat there for hours before he heard a voice in his head.

"Get your arse down here, you have a whole lot of explaining to do!"

Lily, he thought, she'd been communicating through the necklace she'd given him for Christmas. 

"Don't worry the common rooms empty, it's just me down here." She added and with that he sighed and rolled out of bed.

He climbed down the stairs slowly and stopped when he saw Lily standing there waiting for him with her arms crossed. He stood there frozen like a deer in headlights until she finally sighed.

"Honestly, Sirius" she said running her hand through her hair "do. come and sit, I'm not mad I just want to know what happened."

"Has Jaryn not already told you?" He asked, honestly surprised.

"She did tell me." Lily said and the Sirius looked at her questioningly "but what she said didn't sound like you at all, so I figured it was only fair to hear your explanation."

"What did she say I did?" Sirius asked carefully.

"She said that you didn't want to write to her because she was a blood traitor" Lily answered giving him a look that begged him to tell her something different.

"That would've been what it sounded like wouldn't it" he said sighing and sinking back into the couch.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked eyebrows furrowed.

"Look, as you already know, I can't really have any communications over the summer." He said starting to explain and she nodded "and you lot know that that's because my parents wouldn't approve" he continued Lily still nodding.

"Because they don't think we are respectable, correct?" Lily asked "because of our blood statuses"

Sirius just nodded miserably "Obviously you know I don't care about all that, but I was trying to explain that all to her and it just sort of came out all wrong."

"I see" Lily said pondering it over. "Do you want me to explain to her, I'm sure she'd have you back if she understood."

"No" he decided after thinking about it for a bit.

"Why not?" Lily asked curiously "you two were cute together."

"Ok, first of all I don't do cute." He said and Lily just rolled her eyes, "second of all, because I don't think we are going to last in that kind of relationship, especially if we can't talk to each other for the next three months. I'm honestly worried about losing you girls' friendship more than anything."

"I see" Lily said thoughtfully trying to decide what to say next, "the best thing I can tell you is that you certainly haven't lost my friendship over this, and I will do my best to speak with the other girls about this, yeah?"

"Yes, of course, thank you Lily. You're the best" He said sincerely, some of the weight lifting off his shoulders.

"Damn straight" Lily said proudly smirking and they both laughed.

"Alright" Sirius said breaking the silence they'd settled into, "I'm off to bed, and you'd best be too. We have to get up early so as not to miss the train tomorrow."

They both stood up and stretched, bid each other goodnight, and headed up to their separate dorms. Sirius went straight over to Remus's bed upon returning and climbed in with him knowing there was no way he would be able to sleep a wink tonight on his own. He also knew that this was the last night for three months he'd get to be near anyone who even remotely cared about him, and he wanted to take advantage of that.

"Hey, couldn't sleep?" Remus whispered, looking over at the other boy from where he had been reading by his wand light.

Sirius just shook his head and Remus put his book down and lifted up the covers offering Sirius a spot. He climbed in gratefully, truth be told his feet were very cold. The two lay down with their usual six inch 'no man's land' in between them and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

................................................................

The train ride back to kings cross station was loud. The boys all trying to forget about the separation they'd have to face in a couple hours. Lily even stopped by for a bit to say goodbye, but soon, too soon, the train pulled into the station and everyone got off.

He walked as slowly as he could across the station to where his mother was waiting hoping that he would never get there. Nevertheless he arrived at his mothers side, and she never even spared him a glance.

After a minute of her greeting Regulus formally, she grabbed both their arms and apparated them to the walkway outside of Grimmuald place. She silently led the way up the path, the buildings moving to reveal their apartment. 

Regulus followed looking back to mouth, 'good luck, brother', and Sirius very hesitantly made his way up the path too. Every muscle in his body aching to run, but his mind forcing him to stay knowing that he wouldn't make it on his own.

He stepped inside his house after his mother and brother and stopped on the threshold. The door slammed shut behind him making him jump. All the sudden he felt as if the walls were caving in on him, which was the consequence of his only exit having just been slammed shut.

This was going to be a long Summer, he thought before climbing the stairs to his room.


	24. Peter's Summer

Peter's summer was normal. His dad changed about four times which was a downer on those nights, but the rest of the time was great.

He went on fishing trips once every two weeks with his dad and uncle Daniel, who was really cool. He was a muggle ambulance driver, and he always had loads of stories to tell.

He was young too, only twenty, whereas his father was forty seven. Apparently his grandparents had gotten the surprise of a lifetime with Daniel.

That's where Peter was right then, sitting on a dock sipping his juice with a fishing pole while his uncle and Father had beers.

"So Pete, you're going back to school I. Two weeks, yeah?"

"Mhmmmm" Peter hummed not looking up from the glassy surface of the lake. It reminded him of the black lake, and it made him miss his friends.

"This'll be the last fishing trip then." His uncle declared.

"I s'pose so." Peter said not really paying attention, he was too busy thinking about going back to school.

"But he'll be back for Christmas holiday of course." His Father added and Peter nodded along, excitement flowing through him at the thought of spending Christmas at home.

His mother tended to go all out for Christmas, the decorations always won them the neighborhood competition and the gift card for a free family meal at the town's diner. Which they always used the day after Christmas. His father's Christmas feast was to die for too, with all the delicious homemade foods.

"Pete! You've got one!" Uncle Daniel yelled breaking Peter out of his Christmas trance.

Peter immediately started reeling in his fish excitedly.

"This ones a strong one!"Peter yelled nearly slipping off the dock and into the water.

"C'mon son you've got this!" His dad encouraged holding the net to help him lift it out of the water.

Peter was struggling quite a bit though, and he hadn't even gotten the fish up to the surface yet when all the sudden it shot up out of the water. All three of them took a step back in shock because it wasn't a fish. Peter had caught an otter.

It swam back and forth aggressively at the edge of the dock, hissing and baring its shockingly large sharp teeth.

"Bloody hell!" His uncle Daniel exclaimed, "give me the rod Pete and get away, these things are viscous."

Peter did as he was told and ran off to find a stick or something he could use to defend himself. He had found a decent sized stick and was running back to his Father and Uncle when they finally managed to cut the line.

After a second of tired silence and panting from all three as their adrenaline crashed, they all started laughing.

"You ran away so fast!" His Father exclaimed through his laughter, "you must've been so scared!"

"I wasn't running away!" Peter said straitening up, quite indignant, "I was going to grab a stick to help." He explained holding up the stick in his hand.

At that his Uncle and Father laughed even harder and soon enough even Peter joined in.

After that whole adventure they decided to call it quits and head back to the Pettigrew's house for a family dinner, where they could share the tale of how they had beaten the alligator that Peter had unintentionally caught.   
Sometimes Peter's family reminded him of his friends back at school with all their wild and embellished stories.


	25. James's Summer

"The attacks keep getting more and more frequent!" Mr. Potter said frustratedly, "there used to only be one or two random attacks like this every once in a while, but now they seem to be happening more often."

"Any idea whose behind them?" Mrs. Potter asked her voice concerned.

"No, not really!" Mr. Potter exclaimed, and James could picture him running his hand through his hair as he said it.

James was crouching outside the door to his parents bedroom. It was midnight and his parents presumed he was asleep, but James had learned that this was the only time his parents talked about what was going on. He had tried asking before, but he'd only ever gotten babied versions that didn't really tell him much other than that some "bad people" were doing some "bad things". Hence the reason he was crouched outside their door listening for any scraps of information he could get.

"Didn't you catch one of the guys who was part of that attack over in Oxford?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Yes, we did!" Mr. Potter said, even more frustrated "but he had some kind of spell put on him that turned his brain to mush the second we started to question him. He just spends all day blabbering on about soap, shamrocks, and potatoes."

"That sounds like it has something to do with Ireland." Mrs. Potter said after a moment of silence.

"We thought so too, but it was a bust. We looked everywhere over there, and all we found was a couple of illegal love potions being sold on the muggle streets."

"Well at least you stopped that, right sweetheart?" Mrs. Potter said reassuringly, clearly sensing her husbands self loathing.

"Yeah, I suppose so." He said with a melancholy tone clearly not believing it.

"No seriously!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed, and James could hear the bedsprings creak as she must have sat up to look at him more clearly.

There was a bit of silence and James could sense that his mother's gaze must be fixed on his father, sincerely trying to make him believe her.

"Don't you shrug your shoulders." She said finally "you and I both remember working the case of that father using Potions on his daughters and nieces to get them to have sex with him after his wife died."

"God, how could I ever forget." Mr. Potter said and James could hear how worn down his father sounded.

It startled James, he'd always pictured his Father as running into dangerous places wand blazing and rescuing innocents like the hero he was, but he'd never considered how that must've worn on him through the years.

"Are they doing alright, do you know? I know your department keeps tabs on where they place the kids and how they're doing." His father asked.

"Yes, they are. The girls are living with and aunt and uncle who love them very much in the right ways." Mrs. Potter assured him.

"That's good" Mr. Potter said, "that's very good."

"Yes, it is." Mrs. Potter agreed, "now come to bed, we both have big days at work tomorrow."

"It's always a big day at work!" Mr. Potter exclaimed and James could hear the bedsprings creak as he climbed into bed next to his wife.

"Yes it is." Mrs. Potter said laughing a bit.

The light turned off, and James took that as his cue to go back to bed. That night he lay awake thinking about those girls and what happened for them, and he found he had a deeper appreciation for what his parents had to put up with at work.

He also thought about his friends and how they were fairing as the world grew darker. He feared for Lily and Peter as they were Muggleborns, and for Remus who was a halfblood, and most of all Sirius who was a white sheep living amongst a herd of blacks.

He also came to an important conclusion that night. People would need some light in amongst this darkness, and what better to bring light to the world, or at least to Hogwarts, than a child like himself. And it was then that he swore that it would be his job to make sure everyone, barring some of the Slytherins, smile.

Little did he know just how hard that would be in the years to come.


	26. Remus's Summer

AN:TW DRUGS

 

Remus' mother had been a bit sick for as long as he could remember. That was never really a problem, not until now. Because now a bit sick had turned into very sick.

Where Hope Lupin had maybe had to take a day of work to rest every once in a while, she now had had to quit her job because she could barely move around the house without assistance.

Where Hope Lupin had only ever had to go to St. Mungo's once a month for a checkup, she now had to go every other day.

Where her voice used to fill the house with its tunes, the house was now eerily silent, as her medicine had swollen her throat up too much to sing.

It was that eerie silence that drove Remus Lupin onto the streets.

During the day as his Mother slept and his Father worked, he went out onto the streets and wandered.

He wandered and wandered and wandered. Not heading anywhere, but going everywhere. He would put on his walking boots every morning and just walk.

He walked by shops, parks, and through neighborhoods. He walked through the neighborhoods filled with mansions, admiring all the ornate statues and the beautiful gardens and architecture. He walked through the bad parts of town, by crack houses and down alleyways that smelled like they might be housing a few dead bodies. And there he admired the people, the ones who survived.

He spent those three months of summer seeing and getting to know the world around him. He found that it helped him remain calm, wandering, because no matter what happened at home with his mother, the world continued on as it always did. The runners kept on running, the shoppers kept on shopping, the smokers kept on smoking, and he kept on wandering.

After a week of his wandering, he could not only map out most of his town fairly well, but he could also recognize some of the other people who he saw out every day. By the end of the second week he could name all of them.

Loo and Zoo were the mother and daughter who always walked by him. Loo, who wore a name tag reading Luisa on her work uniform, always dropped her daughter Zoo off at the daycare at 8:45 AM, And Zoo, without fail, always asked to go to the Zoo.

Then there was Jelly Bean who always stopped to look at the Jelly Bean display on her way to work.

There was Black and Red who were two old men who always sat on the porch outside one of the old town houses and played checkers. The man with freckles always insisted on being black and the one wearing the blue sweater was always content with being red.

There were many other people that were on the streets daily, but the person who most interested Remus was Green. Green was a boy who Remus always saw standing on the corner by Green street. He was around Remus'a age and he wasn't wandering like Remus, but instead standing still. He always had a backpack strapped across his shoulders, hands in his pockets, and usually a cigarette in between his lips. Something about him seemed a bit feral though, as if he was always backed into a corner and ready to fight his way out.

Green was always standing on the corner when Remus walked by in the morning, but he was never there in the evening. Remus always wondered where he went, and one day in the last week of summer he went to find out.

He put on his boots and a raincoat since it was drizzling out, and headed out to wander just like any other day. He decided to take a different route that day and ended up getting lost. By the time he made it to Green street it was late afternoon. Remus was surprised to see Green still standing there just as if it was morning.

He was even more surprised when a man went up to Green and handed him what looked like a roll of cash and received what looked like a box of Red Devils in return.

It surprised Remus that somebody as young as him could be on the streets selling drugs. It surprised him even more that that was what Green had been doing this entire time. It was all a bit depressing actually, he'd started to like seeing Green around. He always seemed like such an interesting character.

As Remus stood in the shadows a little ways down mulling it all over Green started to move. When Remus noticed he started to follow without even realizing what he was doing. When he did he almost stopped, but then his curiosity won out and he followed him, his wolf senses kicking in to help him go undetected.

Green walked for about twenty minutes hands in pockets, shoulders slouched, and throwing furtive looks over his shoulder. Eventually he reached what looked to be a very worn out looking warehouse. He looked behind him glancing around one last time and slid through the open door and closed it quietly behind him.

Remus didn't really know what to think of it all, and as he stood in the shadows trying to figure it out he watched as many others slid open the door to the warehouse and slipped in quietly. He wondered what could be going on in there, and eventually, when he was sure there wasn't anyone else coming, he walked across the street and peeked in through one of the dirty windows.

He was shocked to see that the inside did not at all reflect the outside. Where the outside looked old and abandoned the inside was bursting with life. It was a nightclub. People were dancing and hooking up in dark corners, and there even seemed to be a bar over in one corner. He could hear the music slightly, and he wondered how they kept it from being heard outside of the warehouse.

Remus could see nearly two hundred people inside the building, but not Green. He snuck another quick peek and when he still couldn't find him he decided to head home. It was late anyway, his dad would be getting home from work soon and would likely worry if Remus wasn't there.

In the half an hour it took Remus to get home he wondered about everything he'd learned today about Green. The more he thought about it the more he started to realize that that feral aura he'd always had about him was likely out of necessity. If the kid was selling drugs it probably wasn't so he could go for ice cream. It was because he needed to. He needed to survive, and Remus understood. 

For the rest of the week Remus followed Green everyday back to the warehouse, and everyday he watched from outside never daring to enter the warehouse. This went on until it was time for him to go back to Hogwarts.


	27. Lily's Summer

"178, 179, 180, 181..." Lily said counting the stars above her.

It was something she'd learned that helped to calm her down when she was feeling too much of anything. Some girls cried to relieve their overwhelming emotions, but she just counted the stars. It distracted her, gave her something else to focus on, and with every star she counted she could feel the lid of the jar holding all her emotions tightening.

Over the summers, since she'd joined Hogwarts and left her sister Petunia behind, she'd had to rely more heavily on this habit than she should have.

Petunia was always getting on her nerves. Even in the littlest of ways. Her disgusted glances whenever she mentioned something from school. How she refused to watch all their old favorite Disney movies because they were full of "disgusting witchcraft". She wouldn't even speak to Lily except to say something negative about how "freakish" she was.

Altogether she hadn't had the best of summers, but at least she only had to deal with Petunia at night. During the days she had Sev to play with. Well hang out more like, thirteen year olds didn't play they chilled, or at least that was what she'd heard some of her other friends saying.

Her and Sev were such a great dynamic, she thought. He was Slytherin and she was Gryffindor, and in their differences they complimented one another. She would always be there to push him to try new things and be brave, and he was always there to plan and scheme how they would get the things that they wanted.

Sev was different, she couldn't deny that, and he was often made fun of for it. He didn't really help himself though, his defense was offense, so when someone was a bit rude to him he would be rude right back, and sometimes that didn't really help people in liking him. But then again, Lily thought to herself, everyone had faults. She was a freak, but she liked to think that didn't mean she didn't deserve friends.

It hurt her when her friends didn't get along, but it was their right, and she had decided that past year that she could be friends with both without taking sides. Neither the Gryffindor boys nor Severus were ecstatic about this, but they'd made their peace.

Just as she was thinking about the five boys, one of their voices popped up out of the blue.

"Lils?" Sirius' voice said, the sound reverberating inside her skull.

"Sirius??" She thought grabbing onto her AC/DC necklace "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. I wanted to see if these things worked long distance." His voice said inside her mind

"Well clearly they do." Lily said, and not being able to stop herself, she grinned, glad to know that her friend was at least alive.

"Yup, so what's up with you?" He asked his voice also sounded excited.

"Not much at the moment, just counting the stars." She replied laying back down and watching the sky once again.

"Really, what do they look like?" Sirius asked wistfully.

"Hold on let me see if I can send you like a mental picture or something." Lily said focusing really hard on the sky above her and shoving it through their connection.

"Woah, that looks amazing." Sirius said voice filled with wonder, "I haven't seen the stars in so long."

"Why not?" Lily asked confused.

"Well for one I live in the city," Sirius said, "And I also don't really get out much."

"Oh" lily said.

"Yeah" Sirius said and they settled into an awkward silence.

"You still there?" Lily said after a few minutes.

"Yeah." Sirius said his voice sounding tired.

"How're you holding up?" She asked, "do you still have enough food?"

"I still have enough food." He said and she could tell he was rolling his eyes at her motherliness "and yes, before you ask, yes I have been using the hydrogen peroxide."

"That's good," Lily replied slightly relieved, "I wish you didn't have to use it at all though."

"Me too Lils," he replied, then changing the subject said, "so how's the sister."

"Fine." Lily said curtly, not being able to fight the bitterness that crept into her voice.

"Yikes, someone's pissed." Sirius replied "what'd she do."

"It's not that she did anything really bad tonight, it's more of a build up of anger from a summer's worth of bitchiness." She replied tiredly.

"You know that what she says isn't true right?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, I know," she replied relaxing, "and you know that you don't deserve any of the crap your family gives you."

"Yeah, I know." He replied mimicking her.

They relaxed into a thoughtful silence that was only broken by Sirius saying, "alright my parents will be home soon so I have to put away the necklace. Goodnight and good luck with your sister."

"Ok goodnight, and good luck with you family." She replied, and after that she got up from the ground and went inside to go to sleep.


	28. Sirius's Summer

Sirius quickly put the necklace back into his pocket as he heard his parents apparate into the entrance hall down stairs. He had learned the previous year that his parents did not appreciate him wearing jewelry. They especially didn't appreciate muggle styled jewelry such as charm bracelets or a necklace that advertised a muggle band.

He was both doing better and doing worse than the past year. He didn't look like a toothpick anymore due to the fact that he had stored enough food to last the summer, and he'd been working out when his parents weren't around and he was physically well enough to do so.

He was doing worse in the case of injuries though. His parents had been angrier after his second year of being a 'disgusting Gryffindor' and therefore punished him more severely. These punishments occasionally resulted in his Father making good on his promises about the stolen whip of Dodoma.

Despite the fact that he would be going back to school in only a week, he wasn't entirely sure how he was going to manage staying in this house any longer. His parents got angrier the closer the going back to school date came, and they lashed out more because of it.

Aside from his parents giving him trouble, his nagging voice had come back from the end of the previous summer. He had yet again used the thought of his friends to spur him on through the worst parts of the summer, but now the voice was making him doubt whether they would even want him back at the end of this. Sure he wasn't a bony toothpick anymore, but he was still injured something awful. 

He knew the scars from the whip would never leave, them being a made by a cursed whip and all. He also knew that he'd need another set of stitches if they were ever going to heal properly. He'd been doing his best to keep the wounds clean, but the ones from the beginning of the summer would still bleed sometimes. As much as he wanted to be able to pretend that he was perfectly fine, he knew that his back would not heal on it's own and that he would need help. 

Hence the voice, it would come to him when he was injured or reminded of his injuries, it came in the middle of the night when he couldn't fall asleep, it came in his dreams, and It came every time he saw his reflection. It preyed on his insecurities, causing him to question one of the only things he had. Making him wonder how much longer he would have friends to rely on to help him if he kept up like this. 

Of course what else could he do, stand up to his parents? he did, he always defended himself when he had to, not that it ever made much of a difference. 

Was he supposed to tell on his parents? That would never work out, the system would be rigged against him from the start, and things would only get worse. 

He was stuck. He didn't know what to do or what would be best for him and his brother. 

Two pairs of footsteps coming up the stairs startled Sirius from his pondering, and he immediately made his body go limp and evened out his breathing. He had learned that sometimes if he was asleep then his parents would leave him alone. 

The door swung open, and he had to fight the urge to flinch. "He's asleep, Orion" His mother said to his Father. 

"Alright then" he replied neutrally and he heard his door shut and the two footsteps recede down the hall. 

Sirius let his breath out and opened his eyes. He hated having to pretend and he hated not feeling safe in his own house. He couldn't wait to get out of his awful house in a week.


	29. First Day Back

Sirius sat in the last compartment of the Hogwarts express waiting for people to start showing up. He'd been in the train station for the past three hours and it was now ten thirty.

His Father had been angry with him, but his mother had stopped him from hurting Sirius, afraid people would notice when he went back to school. Consequently they had had Kreacher apparate Sirius and his trunk to the station.

The train had gotten to the station around ten and he had climbed aboard to stake out him and his friends' usual compartment. And so there he sat staring out the window and waiting for the first couple of people begin to trickle in. It was there that he slowly felt his eyes start to close, and he slowly felt himself starting to relax enough to fall asleep.

He immediately sat up straight at the sound of footsteps in the corridor. He glanced out the window and saw that there were three families standing on the platform already. How long had he been asleep?

Just then the compartment door opened and Remus stepped in. Both him and Sirius stood frozen for a moment, not having expected the other to be thee so early. Then they both immediately hugged each other.

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, "what are you doing here so early?"

"My parents didn't have the energy to deal with me anymore." Sirius stated, and pulled back from the hug and looked Remus over quickly. "What about you?"

"My Mum had a doctors appointment she had to get to early, so my parents dropped me off early." Remus explained as he settled himself down in the seat across from Sirius.

"Doctor's appointment?"Sirius said, voice laced with concern, "is everything alright?"

"Not really," Remus said sighing "I mean she's been sick for most of my life, as you know, but it's gotten a lot worse."

"Oh" Sirius said not entirely sure how to best comfort him, "I'm sorry Rem."

"Yeah well," Remus said shrugging "c'est la vie" (English: that is life)

"You don't just know Welsh and English? You know French too?" Sirius exclaimed.

"No" Remus said laughing a bit, "it's just a phrase I know is all."

"Oh," Sirius said "well I was about to be impressed, but I guess your just the same old unimpressive Remus, huh?"

"Unimpressive!" Remus sputtered, "I resent that!"

"Ladies, Ladies!" Came a familiar voice from the compartment door "don't fight! There's more than enough James Potter to go around!"

Sirius and Remus both looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but got up to hug James, and Peter who was trailing behind.

"How was the holidays for you lot then?" Peter asked as they settled down into their seats.

"Alright" Remus replied.

"Smashing" James exclaimed.

Sirius just shrugged his shoulders.

"Hullo, lads" came a distinctly feminine voice from the doorway.

"Lily" Remus exclaimed and quickly got up to give her a hug, quickly followed by Sirius and then a more hesitant Peter with an overly confident James bringing up the rear trying to act nonchalant.

It was clear that James still had feelings for Lily Evans.

"How've you lot been?" Lily asked smiling, and receiving a mixed garble of responses.

"Alright then," she said once their five minutes of indistinguishable chatter calmed down, "I've got to go find the girls, I'll see you at the feast."

She then started to leave their compartment before turning around making eye contact with Sirius and saying. "Will I be seeing you later tonight?" 

"Yes, I think so." Sirius replied grimacing. She nodded in response and then turned to leave the compartment.

Once the door shut behind her James immediately went off. "Oh my God, did she get tanner. She definitely has more freckles. She's gotten taller too, and prettier. I didn't even think that was possible!"

"So I take it you've finally come to terms with the fact that you love her then." Remus stated smirking.

"Maybe so." James replied scowling after a bit of silence.

"It's about damn time!" Peter exclaimed.

"Whatever," James said scowling, "and anyway, what did that mean am I going to see you tonight, I mean what was that Sirius. Are you moving in on my girl?!"

"Ok, first of all, Lily is not your girl until she decides she wants to be your girl," Sirius said, and James immediately looked apologetic, "and second of all, she was asking me if I needed stitches dumbass."

"Oh" James said, and after that their compartment went silent for a while. That was until Peter brought out his exploding snap deck, and peace was forged again.

................................................................

"That feast was absolutely delicious!" James exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet as they waited for the portrait hole to open in his usual hyper way.

"Uh huh" Peter agreed.

"C'mon lets go get changed out of these robes!" Remus said, and led the other three over to the boys staircase.

They climbed until they reached their room on the fifth floor, and were about to go in before Sirius stopped them.

"Wait guys, look," he said pointing to the placard on their door that read their names, "there's a new name."

And sure enough the placard read

Sirius Orion Black  
Remus Lyall Lupin  
Peter John Pettigrew  
James Fleamont Potter   
Jordan Sam Resik

"They are adding someone else to our dorm?" Sirius said "why?"

"Well probably because the other dorms for our year are full, where else would they put him?" Remus answered.

"Well no matter," James said "I'm sure we'll all get along. Swimmingly, now let's go meet the lad, yeah?" And with that he pushed the door open.

The four boys all filed in and took in the sight of Jordan who was sitting on the bed nearest the bathroom wearing long sleeved pajamas and drawing. Jordan had dark brown hair and tannish skin with dark brown eyes. Jordan was clearly fairly short and very thin.

But none of this was what stuck out most to the four boys. No, what stuck out the most was the fact that Jordan was most definitely a girl.

AN: Happy Ace awareness week y'all!!!!!!!


	30. A New Roomie

Jordan looked up from her drawing and saw that the four of them were looking at her. "Um, hello there," she said sliding off the bed and walking over to the boys, "my name is Jordan, what about you guys?"

She spoke with a distinctly American accent and was very clearly not from anywhere in the area.

"Hullo, I'm Peter" Peter said without a seconds hesitation, and the rest of the boys looked at him bewildered.

"Nice to meet you Peter." She said and then looked at the rest of the boys, waiting for a response.

"Uh, I'm James" James said after an awkward stretch of silence.

"And I'm Remus." Remus added, but Sirius stayed quiet. He didn't know how to feel about this invasion of his dorm.

"You must be Sirius then," she said addressing him, "that's a cool name. I bet you could make a ton of jokes out of it."

"Oh, he already does." Peter said, but before he and Jordan could go and get too buddy buddy Sirius interrupted.

"What are you doing in here?" He said sharply, "this is the BOYS dorm!"

He felt a sharp elbow to his side, and had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming from the pain of taking an elbow to an already broken rib. He got the message James was trying to send anyways though. Play nice.

"There wasn't enough room in the girls dorms and the other boys dorm is full." She explained, "that leaves this dorm."

"Where are you from?" He said, firing off the next question.

"Arizona," she said and at his look of confusion added, "it's a state in America."

"why'd you transfer?" He asked.

"You know it kind of feels like I'm being interrogated here." Jordan said getting a bit defensive.

"Why'd you transfer?" He repeated.

"Mate," Remus said putting a hand on his shoulder, "you need to chill out. She's not going to try and kill you in your sleep."

"You don't know that!" Sirius said twisting away from Remus "in fact we don't know anything about her at all!"

"I'm literally right here." Jordan said with a tiny little wave.

"Yes, that's right, you're here." He said turning viscously to look at her "all the sudden you're here, with no warning and little explanation. We didn't see you get sorted, we were not notified that we'd have a new dorm mate in any way, in fact you weren't even at the feast. So for all we know, you could've just climbed in the window and added your name to the door!"

"That's absurd!" Jordan said exasperated.

"She's right, mate." James said hesitantly, "that does sound a bit preposterous."

Remus just stood silently as the other four argued. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why Sirius was acting so aggressive towards this girl, who clearly wasn't all too pleased with being here herself. He was looking at Sirius and realized that he reminded him of a cornered animal.

And then Remus got it. Sirius had just gotten back from a hellish summer, one that left him needing stitches at the very least, and now the only safe place he knew had been invaded by a stranger. No wonder he was acting hostile towards this girl.

"Alright, come on Sirius, let's go for a broom ride, yeah." Remus said grabbing James's broom off his trunk. "Neither of us has flown since last year, and you need to get reacquainted with yours if you want to keep your spot on the team."

"Fine," he said bitterly, "but only because I know you'll fall to your death if I let you go alone."

It was true. Remus was shit at flying, but if it got Sirius out of the dorm then he would be willing to risk it. Plus he had total faith that Sirius would catch him if he ever fell.

Sirius grabbed his broom off his trunk, marched over to the window, threw it open, and jumped out without even putting the broom between his legs.

"Do you mind?" Remus said to James pointing at the broom.

"Not at all." James replied, and then watched as Remus jumped out the window after Sirius.

"That was rather odd," James said turning back to the other two, "I swear he doesn't normally act like that."

"It's not that shocking," Peter said quietly, and when James looked at him confused said, "he never comes back from summer the same."

At that James was quiet. Peter was right, of course, he usually was when it came to people.

"So, uh, anyways" James said trying to recover the conversation, "shall I give you the tour then?"

"No need,"she replied, "I've been here for the past two days."

"Two days?" Peter asked, "why?"

"Something about wanting me to get to know the terrain and the teachers before term started so that I wouldn't be so lost." Jordan said shrugging, "honestly I was happy to come."

"Well that's good I guess." James said and on cue Peter yawned.

"I'm going to head to bed now, goodnight" Peter said ambling over to his bed and collapsing onto it, clearly exhausted.

"Me too," Jordan said following suit, "night y'all."

 

................................................................

Meanwhile, Sirius and Remus flew around in the night above the roof for a good two hours. They didn't say a word to each other, but instead simply enjoyed the silence as they flew amongst the stars.

"Hey" came a voice, and Sirius looked over at Remus to see what he wanted only to see that Remus wasn't even paying attention to him.

"Hellooooooo?" Came the voice again, this time distinctly feminine, "Sirius, are you there?"

It was Lily, Sirius realized . Using their necklaces.

"What's up Lils" he said holding onto his necklace as he decelerated on his broom.

"The girls just fall asleep, but I want to make sure they are completely passed out before I leave." Lily said, "so I'll meet you in the common room in an hour."

"Alright, sounds good Lils." Sirius replied, "and thank you very much for helping me."

"No problem,"Lily replied, "what are friends for. Bye"

"Bye," Sirius replied then turned to Remus and said, "come on, we need to get back. Lily's going to be there in an hour and I'd rather she not see more than she must."

They flew back to the dorm and slipped in the already open window as quietly as they could. James had clearly been trying to sit up and wait for them, but had fallen asleep. Jordan's bed curtains were closed tightly and Peter was passed out across his bed. They set their brooms down next to James so that if he woke up he'd know they'd gotten back. Then they quietly snuck into the bathroom and closed the door behind them.

Sirius walked over to the cabinet where they kept their essence of dittany and skelegrow potions along with other muggle first aid supplies that Lily had stashed there. He pulled out the essence of dittany and noticed that there was some missing.

"Hey did you use any?" He said turning to Remus.

"No," Remus replied shaking his head, "why?"

"I think there's some missing." Sirius answered.

"That's odd" Remus said, "anywho, we need to get this over with before Lily comes up."

"Alright." Sirius said and they both began to carefully strip down to their boxers.

"Jesus Christ, Sirius!" Remus exclaimed when he looked up and saw his friend facing him shirtless.

"You sure know how to make a guy feel good, don't you?" Sirius replied sarcastically, "and anyways you're not looking too hot yourself."

"Touché" Remus said rolling his eyes.

"Can you come set my rib?" Sirius said after a couple of minutes of them rubbing the essence of dittany on themselves.

"Yeah, sure, which one?" Remus said grabbing his wand off the counter and Sirius pointed to one on his left side, "alright you know the drill."

Sirius nodded and hopped onto the counter and bit down on a towel.

"On three?" Remus questioned looking up at Sirius for confirmation. Sirius nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself.

"One, two, three." He said and than recited the spell. He heard a groan from Sirius and Sirius crumbled back against the wall.

Remus turned around and filled up one of their mouthwash cups with some of the bone mending potion they had stored.

"You should probably drink milk for the next couple of weeks." Remus advised as Sirius drank the potion.

"Yeah." He agreed, "at least it'll taste better than this rubbish." He added holding up the empty cup.

Remus hummed in agreement and started getting back to work on his scars and bruises. Sirius took this chance to get a good look at Remus. He'd always wondered how Remus had gotten his scars. They were odd too, like bites and claw marks like they were from really big dog or something.

Or a wolf.

But no that can't be? He thought to himself. That would be ridiculous. Remus? His Remus? A bloodthirsty monster? No way! It had to be something else he decided.

"Hey, if your done then can you get my back?" Remus said interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, of course." He replied and Sirius went over and carefully started applying the potion to his friend's back. Despite his best efforts he couldn't put the thought of Remus being a werewolf out of his head. Especially as he rubbed the potion on very distinct claw marks.

Maybe werewolves weren't bad. I mean when he'd originally come here he'd thought that muggleborns had been the literal spawn of the devil, but James had taught him different. He'd have to ask James about it later.

"I'm down in the common room," came Lily's voice interrupting his thoughts.

"K," he replied "I'll be down in a minute."

"Lily's ready," he informed Remus, "do you want to come with me to get her? Or you can go to bed if you want."

"I'm not going to bed, mate." Remus replied rolling his eyes, "at some point you need to understand that your friends will always want to be there to help you."

Sirius looked at the ground not really sure how to respond to that. After an awkward couple of seconds Remus heard a quietly mumbled "thank you"

"Alright let's go get Lily." He said, and together they left the room.


	31. The Astronomy Tower

"Alright so the moon is a waning crescent moon, and Orion's Belt is positioned southeast of the moon, which means...." Remus said stopping and chewing on his pen, not entirely sure what it meant. "UGH, I hate divination, what IS that supposed to mean!"

"I think it means thaaaaaat... Jenna Halen lost it to Craig Douglas, that Hufflepuff Prefect with the crazy hair, in the prefects bathroom last night." Lily said looking over at him from her own paper, "also Orion's Belt is southWEST of the moon idiot."

"Wait she did?" Remus responded with instant interest, "also, yeah thanks."

"Yeah, apparently Samantha Quillens, you know, the Gryffindor Prefect, walked in on them in the act!" Lily said emphasizing the last bit, "I heard her talking about it to some of her roommates." Lily stated matter of factly.

"Damn," he said, "didn't she lecture a bunch of you girls about the importance of maintaining your virginity, like, last year?"

"Yeah, but apparently she took it in the ass." Lily said, "I mean, I'm pretty sure that definitely still counts, but whatever." She added shrugging her shoulders.

"Whatever," Remus said shrugging, "alright, that's it, I'm pulling a James and bullshitting my way through this assignment!"

"You weren't before?" Lily asked, "that's literally all I ever do."

"Wait, WHAT?" Remus said, "I thought you said you were good at divination?!"

"I am," she said grinning, "I'm good at bullshitting my way through divination."

"I swear I'm the ONLY one who actually tries to learn this rubbish aren't I." He said sighing.

"Yup," Lily said popping the p, "here, just think of some gossip you've heard and generalize it. See?" She said showing him her finished assignment.

"Hmmmmm, this sounds pretty legitimate," he said reading through her observations, "wait, what's the cat and the dog shall fight?"

"Oh, that's Sirius and Jordan, Sirius being the dog and Jordan being the cat." She explained, then thoughtfully added, "though I must admit Jordan doesn't seem like a cat, if anything she reminds me of a bird."

"Yeah," Remus agreed, "I do kind of get a flighty vibe from her."

"Hmmmm," Lily hummed in agreement, "she doesn't have much to anchor her here. I've done my best to be friends with her, but it's hard to get any closer. I don't even know why she switched schools!" She said exasperatedly.

"None of us do," Remus said sighing, "but between the two of us, I think something really bad happened."

"Yeah," Lily agreed "me too, she kind of acts like Sirius does after summer."

"You noticed too?" Remus exclaimed.

"Yeah, of course," Lily said sitting up, "like how she always flinches when anyone moves too quickly around her."

"Or how she never sleeps well, and always has nightmares," he added

"Or how she doesn't eat very much," Lily said.

"Ok, I didn't really think of this until now," Remus said and Lily nodded eagerly and motioned for him to go on, "our first night here, Sirius noticed some of our dittany was gone. I didn't really think much of it till now, but I mean what if...?"

"You think she might've taken some?" Lily whispered conspiratorially

"Maybe?" Remus said shrugging helplessly "also why are you whispering?"

"For dramatic effect" she said flicking her hair over her shoulder dramatically.

"Oh, whatever!" Remus said laughing along with Lily.

"So how are things with Sirius and Jordan?" Lily asked after they'd both stopped laughing.

"They're both getting along really well, actually" Remus replied and then added after she pulled a face, "it's surprising right!"

"What happened," she asked, "I mean that first night he hated her, and the next day when she walked in on us changing his bandages I thought he was going to kill her!"

"I think he was just scared was all. He didn't hate HER specifically." Remus responded emphasizing the her, "I think it could've been anyone and he would've acted super aggressive towards them. In case you haven't noticed he kind of has the fight response instead of the flight."

"Trust me, I remember him laying James out last year when he snuck up on Sirius." Lily said snorting, "how could I forget, it was the BEST day of my life."

"Yeah, it was pretty great, wasn't it." Remus said with a small grin on his face, "aaaaannnnddd done!" He said proudly holding up his finished divination assignment.

"Good, now we can get into the good stuff." She said rubbing her hands together conspiratorially causing Remus to laugh.

"You are SUCH a gossip Junkie, I swear to god." He said still laughing a bit.

"Shut your mouth Remus!" Lily said shoving his shoulder playfully and he rolled over onto his back dramatically, "you're just as much a gossip junkie as I am, now get out the flask!"

Lily and Remus had realized at the beginning of the year when they had made the astronomy tower their hangout that they could get away with pretty much whatever they wanted. This included trying all the things they'd never done before, one of these things being different drinks. While their drink tastings had started with more innocent drinks like butter beer, it had quickly evolved into alcoholic drinks, such as tonight which was both their first tastes of fire whiskey.

Remus pulled out the flask that James had gotten him for his birthday in the beginning of the year. "LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!" He shouted to the sky "WHO'S READY FOR SOME FIRE WHISKEY!!!"

"Shhhhhhh, your gonna get us caught!" She said and upon his super serious reaction, aka him rolling his eyes, she laughed and snatched the flask out of his hands, "Ladies first!"

Remus snorted, "ok whatEVER lils." And when she was done she stuck her tongue out and pulled a face.

"OH MY GOD! I think I just drank liquid fire, and it is very painful!" She yelled sputtering, then added with a grin, "here, have some."

Remus took the flask and looked at it warily, oh whatever Lily's probably just being whiny is all. I've seen Sirius drink this with a straight face he thought, and then took a sip.

"FUCK!" Remus yelled nearly spewing the whiskey everywhere. "Jesus Christ that is literal FIRE!" 

Lily was laughing so hard that she couldn't breath, and that mixed with her choking on the burning liquid in her esophagus made it seem like she was literally dying. Not to say that Remus wasn't doing the exact same thing.

"Okay, okay, okay" Remus said holding out both his arms once they'd both calmed down enough to sort of breathe properly.

"Okay," Lily said miming him while settling down and lying down on her back to look at the stars, a second later Remus joined her. "So how's your week been?"

"Fine," Remus said snorting, "Is that really what you wanted to talk about?"

"No," she said taking another sip from the flask and coughing, "your life isn't particularly interesting now is it." She added voice hoarse.

"Nope," he said taking the flask from her and having a sip.

"Your not supposed to agree!" She said laughing and half heartedly hit his upper arm. "Besides, you live in a dorm with Sirius, James, Peter, and now Jordan. I'm sure plenty of interesting things happen."

"True," he agreed taking another sip from the flask before handing it to Lily, "How do Sirius and James drink this stuff?"

"I don't know, they get used to it I guess." Lily replied taking another sip, "sooooooo, heard any good gossip with that great hearing of yours?"

"Ummm, Janson cheated on Carrie with star?" He said

"Knew that," Lily replied.

"I'm going to presume you already know about Sarah Duke's connection to Hogsemeade and how she uses it to sell things to students in between Hogsmeade trips?"

"Yup," Lily said.

"And did you know that her twin brother Mason sells more illicit commodities?" Remus said hoping that she didn't.

"No I didn't," Lily said, "I'll keep that in mind. How'd you know anyway?"

"Supplier," Remus said holding up the flask.

"I see," she said, "my compliments to Duke then."

"I'll tell James to make sure he knows you liked it." Remus replied sarcastically, and hiccuped, "this stuff works well."

"Mmmhmmmm" Lily hummed in agreement, "now where were we?"

"Mason Duke sold us fire whiskey." Remus reminded her. "Your turn."

"Alrighty," Lily drawled, "ummmmmmmmm, OH YEAH Jaryn and that Amos Diggory are dating now!"

"Lily I don't think there's a person at Hogwarts who doesn't know that." Remus replied smirking.

"Shit, you're right." She said hiccuping, "how abooooouuuttt, ooooooh, I've got a good one!" She said grinning widely and rolling over to look at him conspiratorially.

"Spit it out, will you?" Remus said rolling his eyes and rolling over to face her.

"You know Zach and Silo, those two 5th year Ravenclaw boys who are never seen apart." Lily said looking at him experimentally.

"Yeah," he said not entirely sure where this was going.

"Apparently they gave each other hand jobs the other day in their dorm." Lily said watching him carefully to see how he'd react.

"Seriously?" He said a bit surprised, "are they like a thing?"

"I don't know." Lily replied, "what do you think of it?"

"What do you mean?" He asked

"I mean what's your opinion on the subject." She said and hiccuped, then added "like are you all like, the homosexuals must diiiiieeeee, or I literally don't give a fuck, or yesssss, I'm so here for this!!!"

"Uhhhhh, probably somewhere between the second two." He said, and immediately regretted it. Supporting anything homosexual was probably just as contraband as being a werewolf.

"Good, me too." Lily said and Remus looked over at her shocked.

"Really?!" Remus said

"Yeah," she replied matter of factly, "I mean why not?"

"Yeah I guess. "He said, alright my turn."

This went on for about another two hours until they were both very drunk and about to fall asleep, at which point they realized that they were both way too drunk to fly.

"So what should we do?" Remus drawled, "we can't risk getting caught walking through the castle, and seeing as we can't even walk in a straight line we'll probably fall to our doom if we try to fly on our own."

"Don't worry *hiccup* I got this." Lily said.

"Care to elaborated." Remus said trying to focus in on her, but she seemed a bit fuzzy.

"What the fuck, you two?" Came a new voice and Remus looked over to see Sirius sitting on his broom at the edge of the tower.

"Hey Siriiiiiii," he said standing up and swaying a bit.

"You're DRUNK?!" Sirius exclaimed, " What the fuck, Lily???" He said turning towards her expecting and answer and saw that she was giggling and hiccuping uncontrollably.

"You're BOTH drunk?!" Sirius exclaimed, "How? What? Why?"

"He's our DD!" Lily exclaimed looking over at Remus and completely ignoring Sirius, at which point Remus started giggling uncontrollably too.

"What's a DD?" Sirius said hopping off his broom, "oh never mind!"

"I called him,"Lily whispered to Remus, but it came out as more of a yell, and Remus nodded conspiratorially.

"Good plan!" He added, but then Sirius grabbed his shoulders and shook him very rudely.

"What did you drink?" Sirius demanded loudly, too loud for Remus' sensitive werewolf eardrums and he tried to cover them up with his hands.

"The Fire!" Lily said with eyes wide as if she was conveying a serious message then promptly began giggling again.

"Fire? What do you mean... wait Fire Whiskey?" He said and was answered by Lily's increased giggling. "How much did you drink?" He said turning back to Remus.

"This much." Remus said holding out the flask to show Sirius, and it was silent for a minute other than Lily's giggles and Remus' ragged breathing.

"That's a never ending flask you dumbass!" Sirius exclaimed. "Alright we need to get you two back to the dorms."

"Alright Lily hold onto Remus' waist and DO NOT LET GO." He said guiding them both onto his broom. "Alright Remus same to you, no don't hold onto your own waist hold onto MINE."

"If you say so." Remus said with a very sloppy wink.

"What the... you wanna know what, nevermind" Sirius said and took off causing Lily to scream and both her and Remus to start giggling again.

Just when I'd gotten them to stop, Sirius thought to himself. When they came to the already open window of the boys dorm Sirius landed on the roof and had his two passengers get off and climb through the window very carefully.

"Alright You two time to say goodbye, Lily I gotta bring you back to your dorm." He said trying to guide her away and hoping that Remus didn't get into too much trouble while they were gone.

"NO!" They both shouted and immediately grabbed each other into a hug.

"We won't let the forces that be tear apart our great friendship!" Lily said and Remus nodded vigorously

Forces that be, what the fuck is up with these two?!?!? Sirius thought to himself

"Alright, fine." He said "Lily wanna sleep over?"

They both gasped and looked at each other excitedly "A sleep over!" They both whisper yelled to each other, and immediately looked back at him and nodded Lily's hair bobbing wildly and Remus was biting his lip rather cutely he had to admit.

Wait what! Nevermind MOVING ON!

"What is going on?" Said a voice breaking through his very weird thoughts, and he turned around to see that it was none other than Jordan.

Shit

"Nothing," he said, "go back to bed"

"They're drunk." She observed completely ignoring his last statement.

"Yup," he said swinging his arms not really sure what to do about her, Remus and Lily watched the two like a tennis match, clearly both very entertained.

"I divinated this!" Lily said "the cat and the dog, remember."

"I don't think that's a word Lils." Remus whisper yelled, and Lily shushed him.

"Let me help, I can walk Lily back to her dorm at least." Jordan said ignoring their drunken babble. "I know boys can't climb that stair case."

"Don't worry we figured out how to get into the girl's dorms a while ago." Sirius said smirking proudly even though it had been Remus' achievement, not his. "But there's no need anyway, Lily is spending the night."

"Oh, are they a thing then?" Jordan asked.

"No," Sirius said quickly feeling a twinge of jealousy in his stomach, which must be second hand jealousy from James because Sirius definitely did not like Lily.

"Alright well at least let me help you get them both into bed." Jordan said and began guiding Lily towards her bed.

"No!" Lily said once she realized she was being separated from Remus, "Remus!"

At which point Remus seemed to notice that they were being separated and started to protest as well.

"Oh my God you two, what do you want?" Sirius said face palming, "do you want to share a bed?"

"SLEEP OVER!" Remus said forcefully as if that had been obvious.

"Ok fine, sleep over." Sirius said rolling his eyes, "I swear to god, you two are acting like five year olds right now!"

Sirius heard a giggle from behind him, and turned around expecting it to be Lily but instead saw that it was Jordan who was laughing. A tentative grin formed on his face and Jordan smiled back as they pushed the two drunken idiots onto Remus' bed.

"Alright, now GO TO SLEEP" Sirius said to the two after they'd taken off their shoes and thrown the blankets over top of them.

He and Jordan began to creep away from the bed when a hand shot out and grabbed Sirius' forearm, and they both turned around to see Remus half off the bed holding onto his arm and Lily sitting up staring at him intensely.

"Stay." Remus said, his eyes burning holes into Sirius and he almost caved right there. Caved into what, he didn't know, but he almost caved nonetheless.

"No Rem, you don't need me" Sirius said trying to peel Remus' fingers off him, "you've already got someone to sleep with, see" he added gesturing to Lily.

"You said sleep over, stay." Remus said and Lily nodded vigorously to show her agreement.

"Alright fine." Sirius said kicking off his shoes, "scoot over."

"You too!" Lily said, "Stay Jordan."

"No thanks, I'm good." Jordan said slowly backing away. "I don't really do sleepovers so I'm gonna go."

She saluted to Sirius before closing the bed curtains and leaving.

Sirius wasn't going to lie it wasn't the most comfortable thing to attempt to fall asleep in a bed with a drunk Lily and Remus, but after five minutes they were both fast asleep and he followed shortly after. 

 

 

 

 

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" A voice said rudely awakening Remus.

"Shit!" Said another feminine voice and he heard someone run into the bathroom and vomit.

Meanwhile he was trying to pry his eyes open, when he finally did he got the somewhat blurry image of James standing in the opening of his bed curtains. He turned his head and saw Sirius sitting up in bed next to him trying to kick off the sheets, and when he turned his head towards the awful retching sound he saw Lily in the bathroom hunched over the toilet.

"Oh." He said slowly moving his hand up to cover his eyes from the very bright morning sun. "Ouch."

"Ouch is right you idiot." Sirius said playfully shoving him, "that's why we DON'T get drunk, the morning after will SUCK."

"Drunk?" Remus asked groaning.

"Drunk?!" James repeated disbelievingly, "Remus got drunk?"

"Yeah," Sirius said grinning, "I picked Lily and him up from the top of the astronomy tower last night at like two A.M., both drunk as can be."

"It was very entertaining." Jordan put in helpfully coming out of the bathroom with an extremely hungover Lily on her shoulder.

"You were there too?" James said looking at Sirius with a betrayed expression on his face.

"Chill james," Sirius said rolling his eyes, "She just woke up from the racket these two were causing whereas you and Pete sleep like the dead."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Sirius said then added with his expression softening, "you're still my bro, no one could ever replace you."

"Bro!" James said putting a hand over his heart dramatically, "give me a hug."

"Of course Bro!" Sirius said leaning over Remus to give him a hug.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Remus said.

"Oh, shut up Remus." James said jokingly, "bring it in, we know you want some."

"No, I-" Remus said before leaning over and throwing up right onto James' feet.

"That's nasty." James said staring down at his feet in displeasure.

"I at least made it to the toilet." Lily said.

"Shut up!" Remus said falling back against his pillows, then added. "I don't feel good."


	32. Thunder Child

Jordan was wandering about the Arizona desert landscape. She had just finished her second year at Ilvermorny all the way in Massachusetts, and she had to admit that while the forests and hilly landscape definitely had their appeal, she'd missed her desert home.

She was walking along, hopping from one cactus' shadow to the next when she stiffened. Had she heard that right? Then again came the warning rattle of a rattler. She looked around slowly while doing her best to stay still and spotted it about a yard away.

Oh God, she thought to herself, it's a diamond back. It was coiled around itself, it's head back and ready to strike, and it's tail rattling so quickly it was almost a blur. She slowly began to back up with her head bowed and her hands up showing signs of submission. After all, snakes rarely attack you without being attacked first.

She'd managed to put a solid fifteen foot distance between her and the snake when all the sudden she tripped on a rock. She fell with a startled shriek and when she hit the sand the ground gave way and she found herself in a shallow hole that was maybe three feet deep.

She groaned and began to try to get up when she heard a growl from behind her. She turned her head and saw a bird, though it was unlike any bird she'd ever seen before. It was about the size of her midriff and had piercing yellow eyes that almost seemed to be crackling with energy and dark black feathers with patterns of electric blue feathers reminding her of a stormy night where the darkness is starkly contrasted with sudden bursts of lightning.

"It's ok," she said putting her hands out as a surrender, "I'm not here to hurt you, I promise."

She began to stand up slowly to climb out of the hole but the bird growled louder. It was very odd to hear a bird growling, she though to herself.

"Look, I'm very sorry if I've ruined your home, but I was only trying to get away from the snake." She said and then reached one of her hands up and bracing it on the edge so she could pull herself out.

All the sudden she heard the bird move behind her and turned around just in time to see it latch its jaw onto her upper arm. She screamed and tried to pull it off, feeling it scratch her back with its claws before letting go and flying away faster than should've been possible.

After the initial shock Jordan pulled herself out of the hole and started running back home, she wasn't going to be around when the bird came back, that's for sure. Along the way at some point she calmed down and slowed to a walking pace to take a look at her injuries.

She peeled back her bloodied sleeve to see a bite mark in the shape of the birds beak on her upper right arm. She reached her left hand around to feel her back where the scratches were. From what she could tell she had bled quite a bit, but was going to be just fine and most likely just needed to clean the injuries and bandage them and she'd be just fine.

She opened the back door to her house and slipped her dirtied sneakers off before entering. The first thing she saw upon entering the living room was her mother asleep on the couch with her baby sister Kayla asleep on her chest. Her mother looked so peaceful, as if now that she was asleep she had nothing left to worry about. There was no more stressing over the bills or over raising four children on her own, and especially no more painful grieving of her husband.

Jordan's Father had been a great one, he was an American muggleborn wizard who had met her muggle mother back in the English country side and the two had eloped to start a new life in Arizona. Her father had been fired from his ministry job due to his marrying a 'non-maj', but he'd never been one to stay down for long. He'd ended up getting a job as a cop and had done a great job raising his kids along with her mother, well up until last month that was. He stopped being a good dad last month because he stopped being a dad at all, which was because he died in a street chase after a petty thief whose robbery had turned violent.

It had been rough on all of them, especially her mother, which was why Jordan was relieved to see her so peaceful, even if she did have to be unconscious to reach that state.

She moved quietly into the kitchen to grab some bandages and then back through the hallway walking past the open door to her 8 year old twin brothers' room. Jake and Ryan also appeared to be taking a little nap and Jordan stopped to admire how peaceful they looked, except the more she looked at them the more she felt as if something was wrong with the scene in front of her, though she couldn't figure out what.

Then it hit her like the ugliest most horrifying train that there ever was. Jake and Ryan were as hyperactive as eight year olds could be, they literally could not stay still to save their lives even when they were sleeping.

They were just laying there though. Dead still.

There was a moment of dull horror where The medical supplies fell to the floor before she darted forward desperately shaking her brothers' shoulders and yelling their names.

"JAKE! RYAN!" She yelled panicking "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! ILL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST WAKE UP! PLEASE!"

They didn't move.

"MOM!" She yelled "MOMMA HELP! HELP, IM IN THE BOYS' ROOM!"

Except her mom didn't come, and Jordan sprinted into the living room to see her mom still asleep on the couch. Except her mom's chest wasn't rising and falling like it usually did when she slept.

How had she missed that? Jordan thought to herself horrified.

She picked up Kayla trying to wake her four month old sister, desperation clawing at her insides.

"Kay?" She said voice breaking and tears streaming down her face, "Kay you've gotta wake up baby, I love you so much, please wake up!"

She shook Kayla a bit in a futile attempt to try and wake her, and Kayla's head rolled back much farther than a baby's head should ever go.

Jordan screamed and put her sister's corpse back where she'd been on her mother's chest. She screamed, with closed eyes, and tears streaming down her face. She could feel her magic exploding out of her, but she didn't stop screaming until she heard someone yell "stupify!" And she slipped into oblivion.

Ironically it was when the voice shouted "stupify" to knock her out that she woke up from her dream. Or perhaps nightmare was a better word for it.

"It's not real, it's just a dream" she muttered to herself while hugging her knees and rocking back and forth.

Jordan was sitting in a mess of blankets and sheets in the middle of her four poster bed in a cold sweat and the only comfort from her nightmares was a lie. It had been real, and it hadn't just been a dream, it had been a memory.

That was why Jordan was here after all, her family was dead and her closest living relatives had been the assholes who'd disinherited her mother for marrying her father. They hadn't been very welcoming to her to say the least, but then again that's life, she thought to herself, the system is bullshit and there's nothing really I can do about it.

She looked at the clock and saw it was 7 Am and decide to got take a quick shower before the boys were up. She walked into the bathroom and started stripping after turning on the shower to let the water heat up. She looked in the already somewhat fogged mirror at the bite scar that was left on her right upper arm. She turned a bit frowning and could see white scarred claw marks on her tan back.

She hopped in the shower and quickly washed her hair and body before hopping out and throwing her clothes on. She had just started to put some toothpaste on her toothbrush when the door opened. It was the Peter.

"Mornin'," he said rubbing his eyes and yawning, "why're you up so early?"

"I showered," she answered simply pointing to her sopping wet braid that was beginning to leave a wet spot on the back of her shirt.

"It's hard to tell," Peter said, "your hairs always up"

"Yeah, well..." Jordan said shrugging and putting her toothbrush in her mouth to avoid giving a real answer. She never knew how to respond to that.

I mean how am I supposed to tell people that I won't wear my hair down out of habit from a summer where if I left my hair down he would drag and throw me around by it, she thought to herself.

She couldn't.

"Whatever," Peter said and began washing his face.

It wasn't whatever though, and Peter knew it. God Peter and his insanely deductive observational skills are going to kill me, she thought to herself.

In fifteen minutes the bathroom and dorm were bustling with its inmates getting ready for the day up to and including James singing loudly and off key in the shower, Sirius scribbling the end of his potions essay, Peter desperately trying to find a matching pair of socks, Jordan making her bed, and Remus was for some reason missing from the fray.

Five minutes later they were all headed down to the great hall, James' hair dripping everywhere, Sirius clutching a very crumpled but finished potions essay, Peter wearing mismatched socks for the fifth day running, and Jordan was just now noticing that Remus still wasn't with them.

Oh wait, she thought to herself, last night was the full moon, he's probably in the hospital wing.

Yes, Jordan knew about Remus' lycanthropy. Did the boys know? Nope, and by all means she shouldn't know either. She only knew about his furry little problem because of her feathery one.

Rewind for a second back to Jordan's nightmare, remember that bird. Yep, that's the one, yeah it wasn't normal. Turns out that was a thunderbird, and when it bit her it gave her the ability to see, like really see. She could see through invisibility cloaks, through any magic barriers, and even see a person for what they are. Which in Remus' case was a werewolf.

No judgement on Jordan's part though, mainly seeing as she wasn't really human either. They called people like her thunder children, which sounds really dumb, but Americans aren't always the most creative when it comes to naming things.

She decided she'd bring him something chocolatey. She assumed chocolate was his favorite anyway seeing as every time the other boys upset him their apologies almost always came accompanied by chocolate.

"I just realized I forgot something back in the dorm" she said breaking through their debate as to how aguamente spelled.

"Ok, do you want us to wait?" Sirius asked, "or do you just want to meet us for breakfast."

"Go ahead on without me," she said already turning around to head back to the dorm, "I'll catch up later."

"See ya" James said waving and they turned around heading towards the great hall and continuing their previous debate on the water spell.

As soon as they were out of sight she changed directions and started heading towards the kitchens to grab some chocolate. She reached the portrait within a minute and began to tickle the pear. She grinned seeing the pure joy and pleasure this caused the pear before the portrait swung open to reveal a bustling kitchen.

"How can Nolly help miss Jordan today." Said a house elf that had appeared at her side within seconds of her being in the kitchens.

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but could I please have some hot chocolate to bring to a sick friend." She said looking at Nolly.

"Why of course! It's no trouble at all Miss," Nolly said and disappeared before Jordan even had a chance to say thank you.

It was still a strange notion that there was literally an entire race that was dedicated to serving wizard kind, and something about it didn't really sit right with her but there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it other than be kind and appreciative whenever they helped her out.

"Here you go Miss" Nolly said appearing back out of the din holding a very appealing mug of hot chocolate.

"Thank you so much, it looks absolutely delicious," she said taking the mug from Nolly," I promise I'll bring back the dish later."

"Oh don't bother," Nolly said, blushing a bit from Jordan's gratitude, "just leave it on your friends nightside table and we will pick it up. It's our job after all!"

"Oh, Ok!" Jordan said not wanting to disrespect the elf by asserting that Nolly couldn't do her job. "Thank you again!" She added before leaving.

Jordan made it to the hospital wing in record time. Everyone had expected her to have trouble navigating Hogwarts. Clearly none of them had taken into account the fact that her abilities as a thunder child included her being able to see through all the trick steps and veiled entryways, in fact at this point she was pretty sure she'd found all the secret passageways including some even the teachers didn't know about.

She pushed open the doors to the hospital wing and looked around.  
Madame Pomfrey was no where to be seen and the room looked relatively empty. There was a girl asleep in one of the beds near the window who seemed to be very sick, and there was a bed in the back with all the bed curtains pulled shut around it.

She quickly walked over and peeked through the curtains to see Remus asleep. She quietly slipped behind the curtains. She went to place the hot chocolate on his nightstand, but when she turned around his eyes were open and he was looking at her.

"You're awake." She said quietly.

"You shouldn't be here." He said in response.

"I'm sorry," she said looking down at her toes, "I'll go."

"You know don't you." He said as she was turning around to leave.

"Yeah," she said turning back around to face him, "yeah I do."

"Are you going to tell." He said staring at the ceiling clenching his jaw as if he already knew the answer and had resigned himself to it.

"C'mon Remus of course not,"  
She said and at his shocked expression added "come off it now! I just brought you hot chocolate. Are those really the actions of someone who's fixing to do you harm?"

"I s'pose not," he said, his mind clearly moving at a million miles an hour trying to comprehend the fact that she'd just given him acceptance instead of rejection.

"How did you figure out?" He asked self consciously, clearly worried that others might've figured him out too.

"Don't worry I'm the only one who's figured it out," she said reassuringly, "and I only know because I'm not human either."

"What?!" He said sitting up in bed far too quickly and winced subconsciously hugging his bandaged torso.

"In short, I got bitten by a thunder bird back in America which gives me the power to see everything as it is. Which is why I knew you were a werewolf the second I laid eyes on you." She explained.

"Oh, Ok, I guess." Remus said, clearly at a loss for words.

"Yup," she said popping the P

"Miss Resik, should you not be in class." Said a new voice.

Jordan turned around to see Mrs. Pomfrey peering down at her through her spectacles.

"Yes Ma'am," Jordan said grabbing her book bag off the floor where it'd been sitting. "See yeah later Remus."

"Bye." Said a very baffled Remus.

Jordan walked into Potions class five minutes late, but somehow Slughorn didn't notice. She sat down in the empty seat next to Peter.

"Hey what'd I miss?" She whispered.

"Nothing much," Peter whispered back, "he's rambling on about the importance of having your work ready on time because about half the Ravenclaws don't have theirs."

"Why not?"

"Well," James said turning around to face her along with Sirius from their seats at the table in front of them, "I think it had something to do with last nights 'If we can charm brooms to fly, doesn't it stand to reason that we could also charm the sofas to fly?' Incident"

"Did it work?" Jordan asked intrigued.

"They got them to fly alright," Sirius chimed in, "the problem came when they could no longer control the sofas' path of flight."

"Fun." Jordan said nodding her head and low key wishing she'd been there to see it.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot," Sirius said, "we got you some breakfast since you missed it."

Sirius then proceeded to pull out an entire bacon and egg sandwich wrapped in a solid ten napkins from his pocket.

"How...?" Jordan said shaking her head in disbelief.

"Extension charm," he said shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

"I'm not even going to question that." She said.

"Good, now eat!" He said and turned back around to pay attention to what was going on in the front of the class, while Jordan began to dig into her surprisingly well kept breakfast.


	33. A Family Christmas Plus 1

Christmas time had come and Hogwarts was thoroughly decorated. There was hardly a doorway without mistletoe, a knight without a wreath around its neck, or a hallway without some sort of evergreen decoration.

Of course there were very few students there to appreciate it seeing as it was, in fact, the holidays, and most students had gone home to spend it with their families.

Of those remaining were 6 Gryffindors, 3 Slytherins, 12 Ravenclaws, and 5 Hufflepuffs. Among the Gryffindors remaining 4 of them were third years. Jordan Resik, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin.

The four of them, despite, for whatever reason feeling they could not go home, were having a grand time together. Jordan and Sirius' standoffish disposition towards each other had been replaced by friendly bickering, and they had become quite good friends, which definitely helped the four's easy going camaraderie.

They had been spending basically all their time together whether it was eating the delicious feast, throwing snowballs at each other in the courtyard, or late night games. In fact they were even sharing a dorm seeing as the first night of the break Lily had walked in clutching her pillow and declaring that the girl's dorm was far too quiet, and thrown herself sprawled across Jordan who screamed at the sudden weight.

"Dude! There are literally three open beds!"

"Yes, but only one Jordan" Lily pointed out causing Jordan to groan, "and what do you mean three? There should only be two open."

"Nah, those two sleep together most nights, so I guess two and 3/4's beds" Jordan explained.

"Hey don't judge us!" Sirius said both boys looking over from where they were sitting playing wizards chess on Sirius' bed. 

"Yeah you hypocrite!" Remus pointed out "your literally sharing a bed with Lily as we speak!"

"She literally JUST jumped in here!"

"Mmmmmhmmmm," Sirius said "that's what they all say."

"Whatever!" Jordan yelled and playfully threw her pillow at them and knocking the chess pieces all over.

"Hey, you're gonna pay for that!" Remus said hopping off Sirius' bed and leaping spread eagle over top of Jordan and Lily.

"Oof!" Lily said as his bony elbow went right into her stomach, "hey I'm not a part of this!"

"Collateral damage." Remus stated shrugging unapologetically.

"That was so unnecessary!" Jordan said trying to push him off of her.

"Was not!"

"All I did was throw a pillow and you went and threw your entire self!"

"I was winning!"

"You were not!" Sirius butted in "I would've had you in five moves!"

"Yeah but I would've had you in three." Remus responded smirking.

"What! How?!" Sirius sputtered.

"Well I'd show you," Remus said sitting up, "but SOMEBODY threw a pillow and knocked our chess pieces askew."

All eyes turned to Jordan who simply shrugged unapologetically.

These kinds of shenanigans continued all throughout the break giving the staff a headache at times. This was best exemplified when they charmed a giant snow bank to collapse on top of a group of second years in the main entrance.

"You know," Remus said thoughtfully after the incident, "I never would've told you about how I read about avalanches in that one book if I'd known you would've gone and made one."

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it!" Lily exclaimed.

"And you!" Remus retorted back at her.

Lily gave him an innocent look.

"I would expect no less from these two idiots," he said gesturing at Sirius and Jordan who giggled conspiratorially, "but you're supposed to be better than this!"

"Maybe so." Lily said shrugging nonchalantly, "but you totally thought it was cool."

"Yes," Remus said realizing there was no point in trying to talk sense into the three, "I did think it was pretty cool."

They ended up having a great Christmas with both the giving and receiving of sweaters and chocolates, and a muggle candy called jelly beans which was apparently Lily's absolute favorite candy. After trying some Sirius decided it was similar to Bertie Botts except there were only good flavors.

Remus received four more pictures from Sirius which he absolutely adored.

One was from their first night back when Remus and Sirius had been in the bathroom, before they'd gone to get Lily. The picture didn't look like much of a scene but Remus remembered the words he'd said to Sirius and he understood that this was an echo of that same promise back to him. That Sirius was trying to tell him that his friends would always be there for him too.

The next drawing was of all the third year Gryffindors' beach day by the lake on their first day off of school. Jordan, Dorcas, and Marlene were all splashing each other in the shallows while all the boys except James and Remus were kicking around a muggle football on the shore, and Lily, Remus, James, Jaryn, and Alice were trying to figure out how to fly their makeshift kite.

The third picture was of a very drunk Lily and Remus leaning on each other, and had a sarcastic caption reading "Their first taste of alcohol, boy do they sure grow up fast!" Making Remus smile to himself.

The fourth was the five of them squished into a booth in the Three Broomsticks during their first rule abiding trip to Hogsmeade. It made Remus smile fondly remembering the warmth of laughter and butter beer and how nice it was to be in Hogsmeade without always having to worry about being caught outside of the castle.

After that it was time for Lily, Sirius, and Remus to present Jordan with her gift. They handed her the wrapped gift box and she ripped off the paper excitedly just as any third year would.

"Woah, it's so cool!" Jordan said holding up her charm bracelet.

"We all have one just like it!" Lily said holding hers out along with the other two.

"Cool, so are they like friendship bracelets then?" Jordan said examining her three charms. 

"Yeah," Remus said, "but with a little added benefit."

"Really, what do they do?" She said looking up with a sudden interest.

"They let you keep your secrets," Sirius explained, "I mean we obviously don't have many between us, but sometimes there are things you just don't want to talk about."

"Ok, but how do these bracelets do that?" Jordan asked eyeing her bracelet with curiosity.

"If we are asking about something and you don't want to talk about it then you use one of the charms," Remus explained, "the link holding it to the bracelet will turn gold and it will let us know that whatever that secret was is out of bounds"

"So what are the loopholes?" Jordan asked looking at them warily, "and yes, I know there are loopholes. Y'all are way too dramatic to not have loopholes worked into this system of yours."

"Of course we have loopholes!" Sirius said cockily as if the idea of no loopholes was preposterous, "So basically, you don't have to tell us, but we get three guesses to be used at any time, and if we get it right then you have to tell us."

"Cool," Jordan said while putting her charm bracelet on her ankle, "so who's used a charm, and for what so that way I know what not to ask about."

"I've used one for why I have to go home every once in a while." Remus said making eye contact with her.

That'll be easy, she thought to herself, I already know he's a werewolf.

"Is that it?" Jordan said surprised that they hadn't used more.

"Like we said," lily said shrugging, "not many secrets between us."

When Lily shrugged Jordan noticed a gold necklace around her neck, and remembered she'd seen Sirius wearing the same one.

"Wait so are those the same thing?" She asked pointing to Lily's necklace.

"What these?" Lily responded holding up the AC/DC logo, "no, only Sirius and I have these and they aren't for secrets. They let us talk to each other."

"Why can't you talk without them?" Jordan asked with a confused expression.

"Not like that!" Lily exclaimed giggling a bit.

"Then how?"

"Telepathically!" 

"Wait you two have been able to communicate in your heads this whole time and I didn't know?!" Jordan exclaimed, "that's so cool! But why didn't you guys make the charm bracelets do that?"

There was a moment of silence as the other three considered it.

"Wait, that's a good idea!" Remus exclaimed

"Yeah, why did we never think about that?" Lily added.

"I don't know," Sirius said, "but we'll have to bring it up with James and Peter and see if they're on board with the idea."

"Agreed!" lily declared, "now lets go get some food in STARVING!"

................................................................................................................................................................

The rest of their Christmas break joy was short lived for the four Gryffindors seeing as Remus had to leave abruptly two days later with the only explanation given being that he needed to leave school for a while. Lily and Sirius definitely wanted to ask, but knew better, and Jordan, oddly enough didn't seem too worried about it.

When asked about her lack of curiousity as to Remus' whereabouts Jordan simply responded with, "well if he wanted us to know he'd likely just tell us, don't you think?"

Lily and Sirius looked at each other and shrug. "Yeah I guess"

That night, the second Jordan fell asleep Lily's voice rang clear in Sirius' head.

"She definitely knows what's up with Remus," Lily stated matter if factly.

"No doubt about it," Sirius replied, "there's no way she would've let it go that easily otherwise."

"Speaking of, do you know what's up with him?" Lily asked.

"I have a suspicion." He replied tentatively.

"Is it the same as mine?"

"I don't know, what's yours?"

"What's yours?" She retaliated.

"I asked first!" He replied indignantly.

"Did you though?"

"Yes?!"

"Fine, both of us on three," Lily proposed.

"ONE............TWO...........THREE," the two of them mentally chanted together.

"Remus' Mother is a werewolf!" Lily exclaimed.

"Remus is a werewolf!" Sirius said at the same time.

"Wait what?!" They both thought in alarm.

"His Mother????" Sirius thought to Lily.

"I mean yeah, he always goes home at the full moon and he always talked about his mother being sick," Lily reasoned. "and that's the only illness I know of that revolves around the moon."

"I guess that makes sense." Sirius reasoned, though he could still see Remus' awful claw mark scars that he didn't think his mum had given him.

"I must admit though, I never considered the possibility that Remus might be the werewolf" Lily conceded, "Why do you think it's Remus?"

"He always leaves around the full moon, and he always seems a bit off around that time too, plus he has these scars," Sirius explained.

"What scars?"

"Have you not seen them?"

"No!" Lily replied now slightly alarmed, "what scars?"

"Here give me a second," Sirius said trying to draw up an image to push into Lily's mind the way that she had with the stars that one summer night.

"Oh my God!" Lily's voice echoed in his head, "those are awful, and also definitely claw marks!"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Sirius agreed

"So, with that new, and very important, piece of evidence, I believe we have come to an agreement as to what we believe," Lily stated decisively.

"Agreed," Sirius echoed.

"So it's decided then," Lily declared, "we use one of our guesses tomorrow."

"Shouldn't we wait for Peter and James to get back though?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"What do you mean no!" Sirius exclaimed, "they are his friends too!"

"For the same reason I'd imagine Jordan didn't tell us," Lily reasoned, "because Lycanthropy is severely frowned upon in our society, and neither Remus nor Jordan know if it's safe to tell us. The same way that we can't know for sure if it's safe for James or Peter to know."

"I guess that makes sense," Sirius begrudgingly conceded.

"So we ask tomorrow and find out if our hypothesis is even right," Lily decided.

"Alright, sounds like a plan," Sirius said, "now it's time for bed."

"Goodnight Sirius."

"Goodnight Lily."


	34. The Discovery

Lily and Sirius didn't get nearly as much sleep as either of them would have liked, mainly because of their nerves.

Lily woke up to Jordan rolling out of bed and grabbing some clothes to change into.

The second the bathroom door closed behind her, Lily quickly grabbed onto her necklace.

"Sirius! Wake up!" She thought to him.

"Already up," Sirius replied, "I'll grab the invisibility cloak and we can follow her as soon as she's out the door."

They pretended to be asleep as Jordan snuck out of the dorm and then proceeded to quickly follow her using James' invisibility cloak. They would've preferred not to have to practically stalk their friend, but they had no idea where they could find Remus after a full moon, and clearly Jordan knew something.

They followed Jordan down to the first story of the castle and to the kitchens. Out of curiosity they followed her into the kitchens wondering if it was possible that Remus was in there.

He was not.

Instead Jordan was met by a house elf.

"Hey Nolly, how are you doing?" Jordan said in greeting.

"I'm doing well, thank you miss Jordan," Nolly replied her ears perking up a bit, "is your friend ill again? Would you like some more hot chocolate to bring him?"

"Yes please." Jordan replied smiling kindly down to the elf, "and if it's not too much trouble, could you also get some breakfast for my other two friends. I'd imagine they're absolutely famished with all this stalking they've been doing.

Before Sirius or Lily could react Jordan turned around pulled the invisibility cloak off of them.

"Oh, miss Lily! Would you like another bagel and cream cheese?" Nolly said, "I know it's your favorite!"

"Um, uh," Lily stuttered her whole face red as a tomato, "yes please."

"And for you mister Black?" Nolly said turning to Sirius.

"Uh, same as her as please," Sirius mumbled while looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

"How did you know?!" Lily exclaimed the second Nolly turned away to go grab their food.

"You two are shit at sneaking around," Jordan said, "and at any rate,  
I can see through invisibility cloaks."

"That's...... not possible?" Sirius questioned.

"It is for me," Jordan replied shrugging, "but more importantly, you know about Remus don't you?"

"Yes, we think we do." Lily replied still sounding a bit unsure.

"You think, or you know?" Jordan questioned, eyeing them suspiciously.

"We know!" Sirius butted in.

"Alright well, just to make sure tell me what you two think Remus' secret is, and if you're right you can come visit him with me," Jordan reasoned, "and if not, you've used one of your guesses and you go back to the dorm."

"Why should we run it by you?" Sirius said, "we don't want to give you Remus' secret!"

"I already know his secret, dumbass!" Jordan retorted and rolled her eyes, "that's why you're running it by me!"

"Alright fine!" Lily exclaimed and then quickly stepped closer to whisper in Jordan's ear, "We believe that Remus is a werewolf."

Jordan mulled it over in her head for a bit before finally nodding in confirmation, "yes, he is."

Lily and Sirius looked at each other with a weird mix of elation that they had guessed correctly and dread at what it meant for their friend.

"And are you two alright with that?" Jordan asked eyeing them suspiciously.

"What do you mean 'alright with that'?" Sirius asked confused.

"She wants to know if we are going to go blabbing to a bunch of people and try and get him kicked out of school." Lily explained and Jordan nodded in agreement.

"I would NEVER do that!" Sirius exclaimed feeling indignant at the mere accusation, "he's my best friend!"

"For most Lycanthropy tends to trump friendship," Jordan stated solemnly, "and anyways weren't you raised to believe that Werewolves were literal scum or something?"

"Yes, but then again I was also raised to believe that muggleborns and halfbloods were also scum," he pointed out, "and look who I'm currently friends with right now."

"Fair enough," Jordan said.

Just then Nolly came back with their food, "is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No thank you, Nolly!" Jordan said bowing her head a bit in gratitude, "We are very grateful for the food, Thank you."

Lily and Sirius chorused their thank you's as they followed Jordan out of the kitchen.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked after a bit of wandering.

"To see Remus," Jordan responded while turning left and heading up a stair case, "where else, stupid."

"Well, I've figured that much out!" Sirius exclaimed, "I meant where is Remus being kept?"

"The hospital wing, right?" Lily butted in, "I mean we are headed in that direction."

"She's right," Jordan sang to herself, "we are off to the hospital wing."

The three of them walked in silence for a a couple minutes longer before reaching the large wooden door that functioned as the entrance to the hospital wing.

Jordan pushed the door open and led them to a bed pushed into the back corner and had the bed curtains closed tightly around it. Jordan pushed them aside and motioned for Lily and Sirius to go in. Jordan followed after closing the curtains behind them.

Lily and Sirius took in the sight of their best friend who was currently asleep. The first thing that they noticed was that he looked absolutely exhausted with sickly pale skin and big bags under his eyes. The second thing was the thick layer of bandages peeking out from beneath his pajamas.

"He looks awful!" Lily whispered in horror, her hands hiding her mouth.

"I heard that!" Came a groggy voice from the heap of blankets and bandages that was currently Remus Lupin.

"Sorry Rem," Jordan apologized quietly, "we didn't mean to wake you."

"Iz ok," Remus said shifting a little and opening his eyes, "wait, Sirius? Lily? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!"

"They know Remus." Jordan stated.

"WhAT?! HOW?!" Remus exclaimed, "Did you tell them?"

"No, we figured it out, mate." Sirius explained, "you're a Werewolf."

Remus' eyes flicked back and forth between Sirius and Lily in fear, "and?"

"And what?" Sirius asked confused.

"And, what are you going to do?" Remus said visibly shaking with how upset he was, "are you going to get me kicked out of school?"

"No! Of course not, Remus!" Lily exclaimed doing her best to calm Remus' nerves, "you're out best friend! We would never!"

"Are you sure?" Remus asked looking away from the three of them and rubbing tears out of his eyes.

"Of course we are sure, mate." Sirius said while sitting down on the bed next to Remus and giving him a hug.

"You're not gonna get rid of us that easily, Rem." Lily added as she sat down on his other side and joined in on the hug.

"I love you guys so much," Remus said, his voice cracking with the effort to not break down and cry.

"We love you too Remus, and we always will wether you are a werewolf or a hippogriff." Lily explained causing Remus to promptly burst into tears.

"Shit, Lils!" Sirius exclaimed, you made him cry!"

"It's fine," Lily retorted while patting Remus on the back, "Its a happy crying, right Remus?"

"Yeah." Remus replied his voice cracking.

"Uh, alright then." Sirius said clearly out of his element, "I didn't know that was a thing."

"Boys!" Lily said rolling her eyes, "So clueless."

At that Remus, Jordan, and Lily all laughed and a second later Sirius joined.

The three visitors ended up pulling up some chairs where they sat and talked to Remus, who thankfully seemed to be getting better as time passed.

"So at any rate," Jordan told Remus, "I let them follow me into the kitchens, and then I got them right in front of Nolly and just ripped the cloak right off of them!"

"I swear to God, you are so dramatic!" Remus exclaimed rolling his eyes and giggling a bit at her rendition of that mornings exploits.

"You should've seen their faces!" Jordan exclaimed grinning wildly, "they were mortified! And as they should be seeing as they were following me!"

"Hey!" Lily said defensively, "we knew that you knew what was up with Remus, and we figured you knew where he was!"

"Yeah," Sirius added huffing in annoyance, "you were our best bet at finding him!"

"Maybe so," Jordan replied shrugging, "not that it matters seeing as I knew you were following me the second you walked out of the dorm."

"Ok, see that's what I don't get," Lily said pointing at Jordan, "what did you mean you can see through invisibility cloaks?"

Jordan just looked over to Remus the same way a child would look at their parents when asking them if it would be safe to cross the street, and Remus gave a small nod.

"So, uh, funny story..." Jordan said forcing a bit of a laugh, "I'm kind of not really human either."

"I'm sorry, what now?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'm not human." Jordan repeated.

"So what are you, since you're not a werewolf?" Lily asked giving the other girl a clinical once over already trying to put together the pieces.

"Hey, I could be!" Jordan exclaimed, "you have no way of knowing what I am!"

"Jordan, last night was a full moon." Lily said rolling her eyes at her friend's dramatics.

"So what?" Jordan replied crossing her arms.

"So we shared a bed last night," Lily explained, "I'm pretty sure I would've noticed if you were a werewolf."

"Fine." Jordan huffed, "so maybe I'm not a werewolf."

"Are you done trying to sidetrack the conversation Jordan?" Sirius asked already very used to Jordan's dramatic methods of avoiding conversations.

"Meh." Jordan replied sticking her nose up in the air.

"Dear Lord Jordan, either tell us or don't!" Sirius exclaimed, "but get on with it, would you?"

"So basically, I'm what you would call a thunder child," Jordan explained, "It's because I got bit by a thunder bird back in America."

"I've literally never heard of that," Lily said while Sirius hummed along in agreement.

"The thunder bird was a fairly common myth amongst Native American tribes." Jordan explained, "they all had slightly different myths surrounding the creatures. Some stating that they were omens of war, or of success in war, some said they could turn people to stone, others said they were life givers shown by their power over storms and rain, while others said they had power over lightning and that thunder was the sound of them clapping their wings. "

"Interesting," Lily mused, "go on."

"So at any rate one of those guys kinda bit me back in Arizona," Jordan said while rubbing her upper arm unconsciously, "and so yeah, here we are."

"Ok, but how do you see through invisibility cloaks," Lily said.

"Oh yeah, so the legends were right about the Lightning since I can do that if I'm really upset, but they were also right about lightning in a different way," Jordan explained, "I have this mental lightning almost, where it pierces through my surroundings and finds the things that are hidden."

"So it's almost like a supernatural clairvoyance?" Lily asked, "that's kind of cool, What else can you see?"

"I can tell what a person really is, like I knew that Remus was a werewolf the second I looked at him," Jordan said glancing over at Remus, "and I can see other hidden things like the trick  
Steps and secret passages."

"Ok, now that could definitely be useful," Sirius said, "do. you know of any we haven't found?"

"A couple," Jordan said shrugging nonchalantly.

"A couple!" Sirius exclaimed, "You've been holding out on us!"

"Maybe so," Jordan said laughing.

She was honestly just relieved that her friends seemingly didn't care about the fact that she wasn't human, and were more concerned with the prospects of new passages.


End file.
